With only 399 ICU (intensive care unit) beds available for critical Covid-19 patients, the country's health sector appears ill-prepared to deal with the rising number of infected cases, according to insiders.
Over the last two and a half months, the government set up 399 ICU beds for the critical patients, 14 times higher than its baseline of 29 beds on March 24, they said on Friday.
During this period, it managed to get only 112 dialysis beds ready for critical kidney patients, 22.4 times the number of beds on March 24.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) also prepared 13,284 isolation beds across the country as of June 04 for managing the Covid-19 patients.
On the other hand, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country jumped to 57,563 on Thursday, which is 1,985 times higher than the cases recorded on March 24. And the death toll reached 781 on Thursday.
According to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), the DGHS has prepared only 399 ICU beds and 112 kidney dialysis beds as of Thursday to treat the critical patients.
Insiders and public health experts said the number of beds is too small to deal with all critical patients, as the infected cases have been rising so sharply since April 15.
The lack of adequate preparation on the part of the government and weak healthcare facilities are among the major reasons behind the death of so many Covid-19 patients in the country, they added.
'Nagorik Samaj', a citizens' platform in Chattogram, staged a demonstration on Friday against ill preparation of the health department to manage the Covid-19 and non-COVID patients.
Officials said the public hospitals in divisional cities have only 10 to 20 ICU beds each, which is very negligible compared to the daily growth rate of the coronavirus patients.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the last ECNEC meeting on June 02 asked the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to raise the number of ICU beds and ensure high-flow oxygen supply at all district-level public hospitals.
A DGHS senior official said they are working to enhance the ICU bed facilities and that they have already taken two big projects with financial supports from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.
"We have a shortage of ICU beds and trained manpower in the ICUs. We have set a target to increase the number of beds and dialysis centres as well as to provide enough skilled manpower within the shortest possible time to attend to the Covid and non-Covid patients across the country."
"If we set up more ICU beds right at this moment, we would not be able to operate those, as the public sector lacks skilled health professionals," the DGHS official told the FE, requesting anonymity.
Public health rights activist Prof Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub said the low number of ICU and kidney dialysis beds for thousands of coronavirus patients has again exposed the country's poor health service condition.
This is the outcome of weak planning of the government authorities concerned over the last 10-15 years, he told the FE.
"If the government sets up more ICU beds in the public hospitals now, those could not be operated properly due to lack of adequate skilled manpower. So, you can easily perceive what a pathetic health service situation is prevailing in the public sector," he said.
On the other hand, a number of ICU beds in the private sector are mostly being used for business purposes rather than treating the patients properly, said Prof Mahbub, also a surgeon.
He stressed the need for proper planning and improving healthcare services in the government hospitals using modern equipment to ensure better treatment for the people, who are mostly poor.