As hospitals in capital Dhaka and other cities of the country run out of beds, ICUs and oxygen, many corona patients have been forced to get treatment at home. Some families are compelled to take back their patients home, failing to meet high treatment costs at hospitals. There are even reports of patients dying with severe breathing problems at the doorsteps of hospitals, as their families could not arrange oxygen for them. Prices of essential medicines and oxygen cylinders have also skyrocketed.
Media reports, quoting the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), on Sunday said that a total of 559 corona-infected patients have so far died at homes, 105 of them in the last one week. The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research (IEDCR) suggests if oxygen saturation falls and the lungs are infected, then treatment at hospital is necessary. At the beginning, the World Health Organization (WHO) also said that not all corona patients, but 20 percent of them might need treatment at hospitals. However, official sources said, even after being identified as corona patients, a total of one-lakh 37 thousand and 336 patients have not been admitted to hospitals. This is more than 10 per cent of the total number of patients treated at hospitals. They have taken treatment at home.
According to the report, a private firm, Synesis IT Limited, operates telemedicine service “Covid-19 Tele Health Centre ” under the government run call centre Shasthaya Batayan since June 15, 2020. Officials claim they obtain the patients’ names and cell numbers from the management information system (MIS) of the DGHS and accordingly communicate with them. But there are complaints that people don’t get any response when they call to get advice through helpline 333. July, the deadliest month with the highest numbers of Covid deaths and infections, has just ended, but the situation may not improve soon as health experts fear that infection may worsen in mid-August. There are reasons for their concern as all export-oriented industries were opened on Sunday and there were rushes of hundreds and thousands of Dhaka-bound people on highways and water routes, increasing the risk of spread of coronavirus.
