Healthcare hit hard by the pandemic: speakers
Pregnant mothers, mothers with newborns, children below five years of age, patients needing emergency care and those with chronic illnesses, elderly people and persons with disabilities are suffering worse than others in terms of healthcare services during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, found a recent rapid assessment survey.
The findings of the study -- "Impact of Covid-19 on Essential Health Services in Bangladesh: A rapid assessment" -- conducted by Brac's Advocacy for Social Change programme and Bangladesh University of Health Sciences (BUHS) were shared at an online event organised by Brac yesterday.
According to the 2017-18 data of DGHS, on average 47 percent pregnant women received four-plus visits for antenatal care (ANC), while the survey found 37.6 percent pregnant women received 4+ ANC services during the survey period, around 10 percent lower than the national average.
In addition, 20 percent of deliveries were conducted by untrained midwives during the survey period, while one in seven children was not taken to hospitals when they fell seriously ill, mainly due to the high transportation cost and fear of Covid-19.
The overall situation was much worse in rural areas compared to the urban ones where 60.8 percent of households experienced some form of sickness (other than Covid-19), while 28.6 percent reported higher clinical costs.
Ten percent of households reported difficulty in availing health services from hospitals, while two fifths of households reported that their health status had deteriorated due to a lack of proper healthcare.
Patients with chronic diseases also suffered significantly with 56.32 percent of chronic disease patients reporting that fear of coronavirus barred them from seeking treatment, while 54.51 percent reported financial difficulties.
Treatment for mental illnesses and disabilities was of particularly poor state, more so in rural areas.
Despite high initial demand, telemedicine services were only utilised by six percent of households surveyed, as service seekers could not explain their symptoms properly.
Carried out between April and August in 2020, the rapid assessment covered randomly selected 2,483 households with an average family size of 4.89 people in 16 districts of eight divisions.
At yesterday's online event, Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora, additional director general (planning), Directorate General of Health Services, said Covid-19 not only created sufferings for Covid or non-Covid patients, but has also affected the government's successful health and disease prevention programmes.
Brac Executive Director Asif Saleh said, "Strengthening of the community system has become extremely important since Covid-19 is not going away within two or two and a half years. Brac wants to work in the field of prevention, protection and mobilisation."
Speaking at the panel discussion, Prof Faridul Alam, vice chancellor, BUHS, said, the health sector in Bangladesh is poorly structured and this is why it cannot face any emergency.
He demanded to transfer the healthcare system to the local health authority.
Prof Dr Malabika Sarker, associate dean, James P Grant School of Public Health at Brac University, called upon the authorities to provide technological training and other institutional support to the field level health workers to build their capacity.
Dr Md Touhidul Islam, national professional officer at World Health Organization, said, "The government needs to shift its focus from infrastructural development to more human development."
A number of recommendations were made in the study, such as revisiting the national service delivery system in the context of the ongoing pandemic, robust utilisation of information and communications technologies, strengthening of health information systems and boosting the efficacy of coordination tasks, adequate recruitment of health workforce and training to equip them with necessary mix of skills, and installing modern diagnostic and medical equipment.
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