General patients dying without any treatment, doctors blaming lack of safety equipment, and medicine stores running out of drugs are the prevailing scenarios, while the government says it is well prepared to combat the deadly coronavirus.
Many people who sought coronavirus tests via the provided hotline numbers were refused by the authorities concerned.
Throughout March and the first week of April this was the picture of the health sector when pandemic coronavirus hit the country.
Patients rushed from hospital to hospital just to get the answer to what happened to them. Mercilessly, government and private hospital doctors refused to admit them to hospital for fear of getting infected by the virus.
Suman Chakma an MA student of Dhaka University (DU) died on Monday in Khagrachari after several hospitals in the capital allegedly denied him treatment fearing that he was a coronavirus patient. He breathed his last around at 8:30 pm.
There is no exact data about how many people have died with corona-like symptoms. According to published news approximately seventy-four people succumbed to various diseases across the country, showing corona signs. Many had corona symptoms before death, although their test sample said they had not.
Public health experts elaborated, lack of skilled manpower, low preparedness, inadequate medical gear unmasked the real face of the health sector.
Renowned physician, and medicine specialist Z M Kabir Chowdhury talking to Bangladesh Post over phone said, “We missed the first call when the virus started to spread in the community. We had no exact data to figure out to what extent it had already spread. Bangladesh is now heading to country level-4 (Community transmission) situation,”
“If we had analyzed data earlier; we could have had a chance to figure out how to minimize the loss. Patient numbers were low, because test numbers were also limited, so eventually, everyone was dabbling in the dark,”
However, the government deserves credit for the prevention of mass gathering, home quarantine and countering disinformation over social media, he added.
Lastly, he pointed out that the ventilator became the special treatment device for those in the critical stages of COVID-19 disease. Without it, there is no alternative treatment.
“However, the reality is this facility of treatment is limited to the capital’s hospitals. The remaining 63 districts of the country do not have ventilators at government medical centers.”
Former Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Nazrul Islam said, "Not all patients with corona need to be kept in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Maybe, only 10 to 20 percent may need to be put in the ICU. Many people need ventilators to treat the illness as they have shortness of breath. In comparison, we do not have ventilator capabilities. '
He stressed that in this situation the department of health should be prepared more than needed, including emergency ICU and ventilator volume in the country.
According to him, “Corona can create fear of a catastrophe in the days ahead without proper preparation.”
In the meantime, 14 institutions including nine in Dhaka, are conducting the tests throughout the country on verification of Coronavirus.
The government’s Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) estimates that at least 2.5 million sets of PPEs will be needed to tackle the coronavirus. Nearly, some 448,974 PPEs have been distributed against a stock of 546,952 since the novel coronavirus outbreak began.
CMSD Director, Big Gen Mohammad Shahidullah said the figure is based on the existing facilities and estimated possible new isolation centers.
“At least 2.5 million full sets of PPEs would be needed to tackle the situation. Requirement for PPEs could go up as the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) is yet to fix the number of facilities to treat COVID-19 patients”