The overstretched healthcare system will collapse if the rapid rise in coronavirus infections continues, Health Minister Zahid Maleque has warned, bdnews24.com reports.
The efforts to tackle the pandemic should now focus on curbing infections instead of increasing the capacity of hospitals, he said at the launch of a Covid-19 field hospital at Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall or BSFMH in Dhaka on Saturday.
Bangladesh is going through the worst stage of the pandemic since the coronavirus was first identified in the country in March 2020. The government reported almost 1,000 fatalities from Covid-19 over the past four days, the highest in such a short period.
Along with the surging fatalities, infections are also climbing rapidly. The daily caseload has been hovering around 12,000 for quite some time now.
In this situation, not even 1,000 out of about 6,000 hospital beds for coronavirus patients are vacant in private and government hospitals combined in the capital, according to Maleque. There are a total of 17,000 beds for Covid patients in the country.
“We are also continuing treatment for non-Covid diseases. But the Covid patients make up 80 percent of the patients now. Besides this, dengue is on the rise as well,” he said.
“In comparison with the last two months, the number of patients has increased sevenfold. The doctors are performing their duties, we are carrying out vaccinations, working on adding more field hospitals and beds, but there is a limit to all these. How can we surpass our capacity?”
The field hospital at BSFMH is equipped with 400 general beds and 40 ICU beds. Maleque said only new and severely ill patients will be admitted there.
He urged everyone to stay aware and cut down the infection rate.
“Infections do not actually occur in hospitals and clinics. You know where these infections are occurring. It’s happening on the streets, in the stores, ferries, factories and villages.
“The doctors and nurses can’t control what goes on in transports, ferries and factories.”
Maleque also expressed concerns over the rising rate of Covid fatalities among women. Women account for around 45 percent of deaths from Covid-19, compared to 20-25 percent in the first wave of infections.
“We need to find out why more women are getting infected.”
He highlighted government efforts to curb the infection rate through inoculation. “We are attempting to vaccinate more people every day. There are no countries in the world where we haven’t looked for vaccines.”
The government is striking a deal with China for 60 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine on top of a previous deal for 15 million jabs.
Bangladesh expects to receive the vaccines at an equal rate every month by November. If Sinopharm lives up to its commitment, the government will get 20 million doses in October, and another 20 million in November. The number may drop in August, according to Maleque.
“We are trying to carry out vaccination drives in villages. The poor elderly people in villages have little interest in vaccines, so we are taking the doses to them. We will prioritise the elderly, women and people with disabilities in rural areas.”
