Despite a sharp rise in the number of active coronavirus cases, the number of patients in the Covid-19 dedicated hospitals has shrunk, officials say.
Currently, almost 70 per cent of the beds in the country's 22 healthcare facilities selected for treating the infected persons has remained vacant, they said.
Even statistics from the state-run Directorate General of Health Services or DGHS showed out of 7,053 general beds in such hospitals, only 2,138 or 31.31 per cent of the care facilities were occupied by the coronavirus patients as of July 23, 2020.
In terms of ICU (intensive care unit), 33 per cent of 288 beds remained unused for not getting any patients.
Of the patients, dedicated corona unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) is holding the highest number (575) of patients, followed by Razarbagh Police Hospital (293), Kurmitola General Hospital and Bangabbandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) with 155 patients.
While Kamalapur Railway Hospital has yet to receive any patient and 66-bed Sarkari Karmochari Hospital and 2,313-bed Bashundhara Covid Hospital are now treating only 12 and 15 patients respectively.
Earlier this month, the percentage of vacant beds was 60 per cent while the figure was less than 50 per cent early last month, according to the DGHS.
The sharp fall in the number of vacant spaces in the facilities came at the moment when the nation is hosting the most number of active cases in Asia after India.
Healthcare professionals identified a host of factors behind the lower presence of patients in the government selected medicare centres across the country.
They said the majority of the patients recovered from home while poor facilities and recent irregularities in the health sector might be discouraging people from getting the health-related services.
DGHS additional director general (administration) Prof Dr Nasima Sultana on Thursday's health bulletin said a total of 12,398 samples have been tested since last morning.
With the tests, a total of 1,079,007 samples have so far been tested across the country.
Of the tests, some 2,856 samples were found Covid-19 positive along with 50 more deaths recorded during the period, she said.
With these numbers, the overall tally of confirmed cases rose to 216,110, she said.
With 1,841 people getting recovered afresh, a total of 115,397 patients have already recovered while 2,801 others died from the highly-infectious viral disease to date, she said.
About healthcare services, Dr Sultana said almost 70 per cent of the beds in the dedicated hospitals remained vacant as most of the infected persons got cured staying at home.
"So, don't get worried. We've enough space in the facilities," she said, calling upon the people to get tested if they feel any Covid symptoms.
Echoing the comment of Dr Sultana over home-based higher recovery, Dr. Rashid-e-Mahbub, former president of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), said the existing services and recent irregularities in some hospitals could have discouraged people from staying away hospitals for treatment.
"Some might prefer going to the dedicated facilities in the worst-case scenario," he added.
Globally, more than 15.4 million people were infected with the novel coronavirus and 631,163 died until Thursday 6:40 pm, according to data from Worldometer that tracks the infections from new pathogen.
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