The health ministry asked its officials in certain districts along the border to test the poor people for coronavirus for free. The decision is aimed at increasing the number of daily tests in the districts where the positivity rates are higher than the rest of the country. Officials have also been instructed to supply medical equipment and human resources in those highly
The country s health sector looks ill-equipped to tackle a massive surge in Covid cases or anything close to the situation in India.
Though there have been some improvements in management capacity over the last year, experts say it is far from enough.
The government is yet to set up ICU facilities in 29 district-level public hospitals while the number of daily Covid-19 tests is still inadequate.
Besides, most of the 421 upazila health complexes lack the necessary human resources and life-saving equipment like high-flow oxygen supply, crucial to treating critical Covid-19 patients.
Although the country has been experiencing a decreasing trend in daily infection rate and death since mid-April, it has started rising steeply again in the last three days 1,608 new cases yesterday from 261 on May 15.
Oxygen supply stretched to limit | The Daily Star thedailystar.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thedailystar.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
[Sabrina Yeasmin/BenarNews]
Seriously ill COVID-19 patients in Bangladesh are being turned away from hospitals due to an acute shortage of Intensive Care Unit beds amid spiraling infections, a local health expert told BenarNews on Monday, blaming the government for not acting rapidly in installing these facilities.
A government official, meanwhile, acknowledged to BenarNews that the administration had been unprepared for the 18-fold increase in new cases in the past two months.
To control the worsening pandemic, Bangladesh on Monday ordered the shutdown of all offices, banks, and domestic and international transport for eight days starting Wednesday, authorities said.
“There is a huge shortage of ICU beds as our health service did not give the necessary attention to the matter. As a result, most districts are still out of ICU coverage,” virologist Dr. Nazrul Islam, who is a member of a national committee on COVID-19, told BenarNews.
Daily deaths rise to 77, getting ICU bed becomes matter of luck
Manzur H Maswood | Published: 00:30, Apr 11,2021 | Updated: 00:52, Apr 11,2021
It has become a matter of great luck for critical COVID-19 patients to get an ICU bed at a government hospital as the health system has been facing an overwhelming pressure due to the rising influx of coronavirus patients.
Critical COVID-19 patients in need of ICU support are shuttling from hospital to hospital in vain while few fortunate ones with high-level connections obtain the facility.
As the capital has the concentration of COVID-19 patients, the availability of ICU beds has severely shrunk in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka.