Most of the country’s hospitals, including Dhaka Medical College hospital, don’t have special arrangements and specially trained doctors and nurses to provide care to people with disabilities.
As a result, patient care attendants have to give more attention to patients as nurses do not have adequate training to deal with people with disabilities.
These findings came from a qualitative study titled ‘Healthcare for Persons with Disability in the Time of Corona’, conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
The study findings were revealed at a programme at the BIDS office in the capital on Wednesday.
Dr Anwara Begum, Senior Research Fellow at BIDS conducted the study and spoke at the event while Dr Binayak Sen, Director General, BIDS chaired the event.
Some 94.8 per cent of respondents said that lack of proper education and inadequate income make patients with disabilities more vulnerable.
When accessing healthcare, 80 per cent of the respondents think, patients with disabilities faced more challenges compared to regular patients during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wheelchair occupants are unable to reach sinks to wash their hands; deaf people are often unable to lip-read due to the donning of masks, the study said.
People with disabilities are referred to specific hospitals, as most hospitals do not have trained doctors and nurses, it added.
Men, women and children with disabilities often operate under a shadow of social stigma and experience financial and social dependency, and require caregivers, sighted guides, interpreters, it added.
The situation of the hospitals and nurses who are at the forefront of this detrimental situation and persons with disabilities are interviewed to gauge nursing skills, preparedness, reaction and experiences of patients, through 65 Stakeholder and Key Informant Interviews.
Participants at the study sharing event, however, suggested taking a large sample for a comprehensive study and getting a broader picture.
Disability is about 9.2 per cent of the total population with approximately 15 million in Bangladesh. The labour market is almost inaccessible for them and sharp barriers to accessing basic essential services prevail, it added.
According to the WHO standard, Bangladesh has a staggering shortage of over 90,000 doctors; 273,000 nurses and 455,000 technologists.
All respondents were unanimous in agreeing that health expenses presented a big problem for them during this disaster.
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