Ensure oxygen supply equipment in all district hospitals
It is most unfortunate that three months into the Covid-19 outbreak in Bangladesh, our district hospitals could not yet take the required preparations to provide treatment to Covid-19 patients. The hospitals are not equipped to treat those in critical condition with breathing difficulties—they have neither any oxygen supply system nor ventilators, as a recent study by the DGHS found. While most of the hospitals have oxygen cylinders, they lack the vital equipment needed to ensure the supply of oxygen. Moreover, 47 out of the 64 districts do not have ICU facilities, according to a health ministry database.
In the absence of ICU and oxygen supply facilities in the district hospitals, critically ill Covid-19 patients now have to travel to the divisional headquarters to get treatment, where the number of ICU beds is also limited. According to DGHS, there are only 329 ICU beds dedicated to coronavirus patients across the country, and 148 of them are in Dhaka city.
Inadequate testing facilities are also another major concern and have made it difficult to prevent the spread of infection and challenged the success of lockdowns. In this bleak scenario, there are examples of innovative initiatives to tackle the pandemic. One such initiative has been taken by the Kalihati upazila administration, Tangail. According to a report published by The Daily Star yesterday, the upazila administration has invested in a specialised vehicle that is well-equipped to collect Covid-19 test samples and is now going to the doorsteps of possible patients. Operating under the upazila health complex, the vehicle can collect 50 samples every day.
We think this brilliant initiative should be emulated by other upazlia administrations across the country, which will not only relieve possible Covid-19 patients of the struggle to get tested, but also will help reduce the risk of further spreading the transmission. This should also be a lesson for us that in such trying times, we cannot just wait for the government's intervention to provide us with all the facilities we need. We also need to come forward, each from our own position, with our own resources, to find innovative solutions during a crisis.
The spread of Covid-19 across the country has exposed the grim picture of our healthcare system. The lack of preparation of the district and upazila level hospitals to fight the pandemic is very worrying. While we would request the health ministry and the DGHS to immediately provide all the district hospitals with the life-saving equipment such as ventilators and oxygen supply system, we would also request the hospital management to be proactive and play their part in getting their facilities ready for Covid-19 patients. Only through our combined efforts do we stand a chance to overcome this crisis.
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