Eighteen people, including four females, died at the Covid unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in 24 hours till 6:00 am on Thursday.
Nine of them were from Rajshahi, three from Naogaon, two from Natore and Chapainawabganj each and one each from Pabna and Kushtia districts. They were aged between 31 and 65.
Among the deaths, eight tested positive for Covid-19 and the rest 10 had its symptoms, said RMCH Director Brig Gen Shamim Yazdani, reports BSS.
Some 70 more patients were admitted to the designated wards of the hospital afresh during the time, taking its number to 485. Another 20 patients are undergoing treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.
"We’ve 454 beds in 14 wards dedicated for the Covid-19 patients in the hospital," he said, adding that two more wards with central oxygen supply systems have been added to the corona unit to cope with the extra pressure recently.
Meanwhile, demand for oxygen has gradually been rising with the spiking of patients in the hospital for the last couple of months.
"At present, we’re bound to supply over 8,000 liters of oxygen to the Covid-19 patients every day on an average in the hospital but the daily oxygen demand was only 2,500 liters in around two months back," Yazdani said, adding that the oxygen demand has gone up to around 3,000 liters, particularly in last one month.
The RMCH director opined over 60 per cent of the new Covid-19 patients admitted to the Covid-19 unit of RMCH are from villages, reiterating that awareness among the villagers is less compared to the urban people.
Despite symptoms, they hesitate to go for tests. “Only they are coming to the hospital when they feel worse. Then we have nothing to do for them, they are dying,” he continued.
He said utmost attention should be given to the villages in addition to the urban area as the fatality rate among the villagers is more and the grave situation is aggravating day-by-day there.
Apart from the administration and health workers, public representatives, political activists, and volunteers should come forward and work together, otherwise, the situation may be furthermore alarming, he mentioned.