The mortality rate in coronavirus is the lowest in Bangladesh whereas western nations have experienced an alarmingly high rate. About 60,391 people have been infected with the deadly disease and only 811 died of it until writing of this article on Friday evening.
Keeping the coronavirus death rate at the lowest level in densely-populated Bangladesh is not a miracle. It has been possible due to the timely measures taken by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The measures, which have been acclaimed by the international community, have protected people from mass-scale death.
The mortality rate of the deadly coronavirus in Bangladesh is only 1.3 percent compared to confirmed cases while the rate is 14.1 percent in the UK, 14.4 percent in Italy, 16.2 percent in Belgium, and 15.4 percent in France.
The World Health Organization (WHO) might have been worried about the Bangladesh situation considering its high population density, poor hygiene habits of the average people, and most vulnerable private healthcare system.
As Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself is serious about providing service to the people of the country, the administration people have come forward with what they have at their disposal. It is reported in newspapers on Friday that she was trying to save the lives of the people with the determination of “do or die” programme.
Under the instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, members of the Bangladesh Army, Navy and Air Force have reached the doorsteps of the poor people in remote villages with food, medicine and other essentials. Other law enforcement agencies, including police, BGB and Ansar are also seriously active in the services of the people at their need. Sheikh Hasina asserted that she is doing her best to ensure safety and security of the people from any sort of disaster, famine and adverse impact of climate change and terror activities.
She said, “Providing healthcare to the people, the resurrection of the country’s economy and bring the people under a social safety net is her main objectives and she is working day and night with a view to achieving her target.” “We will fight unitedly the coronavirus pandemic and the country will be proceeding with the rapid progress of its development projects,” she added.
The government is providing all-out cooperation including the nationwide volunteers, who are offering continuous help, telemedicine and testing and carrying out relentless publicity to create awareness among the mass people. All these are yielding good results instantly. And because of these, even a street boy or a girl in the slum area is using masks.
The nationwide massive preventive measures by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have created a real protective shield against the increase in coronavirus patients in Bangladesh. There is a saying that the God helps those who help themselves.
The country’s overall healthcare system is far from the standard of western nations. The healthcare in the government hospitals is poor while private clinics, which have a mushroom growth over the decades, are tyrannical and engaged mainly in making money. They have no attitude of serving the people; rather they have emerged as butchers.
In Bangladesh, receiving treatment at clinics is the most agonising part of life of people. Once a patient is admitted to a private clinic, the life of him/her and his/her family become hell. Nobody can come out without borrowing or selling properties if he or she comes round. And if a patient dies, members of the family of the deceased are not spared by the owners and doctors of the clinics. In most cases, owners of the clinics are doctors themselves. They try to earn money at any cost. Some big private hospitals have earned notoriety by charging money keeping dead body in the life support. Even if a patient is already pathologically dead, hospital authorities and the doctors usually do not let the attending people know that the patient is dead two three days earlier as they can charge money for every passing day. And that is why the ‘tyrannical’ word is being used.
The creation of awareness among the people is a complex and complicated issue in Bangladesh. People here are quite indifferent to the spread of virus. The government have been repeatedly announcing that the passengers coming from abroad have to go through checks at the airports and if found with fever, they have to stay in quarantine for at least 14 days, but a huge number of overseas returnees have escaped quarantine and reached home. They were least bothered about maintaining social distancing as they returned home after long detachment with the family and friends. It should be noted here that two people returned from Italy with fever and accordingly they were put in home quarantine. Another person living with them found coronavirus positive. But they did not follow the government instructions. They went to their village and got mixed with other people without maintaining social distancing.
Moreover, some people in Rajshahi division, who have a tendency of ignoring any government decision as they are anti-government people, announced in public that they would not follow the government decisions. They also announced they would not stay in quarantine; neither would they maintain social distancing.
Despite all these unfavourable condition, the present government of Bangladesh is fighting the coronavirus pandemic with courage and confidence of resilience power of the common people who have long been struggling against the natural calamities, like drought, flooding and adverse impact of climate change.
The nationwide programmes for providing food and daily essentials by the government in time are very useful in lowering the effect of the coronavirus.