Take heed of the concerns of Chinese medical experts
The Chinese medical team, which wrapped up its short visit to Bangladesh on Monday, has made some very important observations on Bangladesh's efforts to combat the virus. They concluded that while the policies adopted by the administration were not inappropriate, there were shortcomings in the measures taken to enforce those policies, largely because of confusion and mismanagement.
The awareness campaigns on coronavirus can have no meaning if their impacts are not reflected in the behaviour of people. And if the guidelines are not being followed, they should be enforced. We saw that being done in the very early stages of the pandemic, but law enforcers seem to have given that up as a bad job when the lockdown order was revoked.
The medical team's full report should be in the hands of the health ministry in a week. But it is not as if our health administration is unaware of the shortcomings and the loopholes that have to be plugged. There is no excuse for people to not wear face masks, or wear them improperly. However, this lack of awareness is not the only reason behind the huge spread of coronavirus in Bangladesh, as mentioned by the medical team. Need our health administration be told why the frontline fighters, the doctors and the law enforcers, have suffered the most casualties? Is it only lack of awareness or because the PPE given to the doctors and healthcare staff were faulty? Why hasn't the health ministry recruited more doctors yet? To hear the minister say that we would recruit more doctors "if needed" is frustrating. Why still the "if"? Are we not short of doctors already? And do we need experts to keep telling us that more testing facilities are required? And why should non-corona patients be asked by hospitals to produce Covid negative reports before they can be admitted for treatment?
While one would be remiss to equate our capabilities with that of China's, we can learn from the Chinese experience, and should draw all the relevant lessons to suit our context. To extrapolate their actions and replicate those in our country entirely may perhaps not be possible or practicable. What the administration can do is take corrective actions immediately regarding the pressing issues, which it is very well aware of, but is doing little about.
Comments