Staff Reporter :
In the last one month, the number of covid-19 patients in the country has increased by 700 times. The number of patients was six on March 23 and just one month later (April 23) the number of patients increased to 4,186 people.
Eighty per cent of these patients do not need to go to the hospital, but the other 20 per cent turn critical and they have to be admitted to the hospital. Most of them also need oxygen support.
However, most of the hospitals dedicated to the treatment of Covid-19 from the Directorate of Health Services do not have a central oxygen plant. Though few of them have central plants, do not have oxygen supply in the ward beds. If the patients’ condition becomes critical, they have to be taken to the ICU or CCU only to give oxygen support.
According to the DGHS, these hospitals have 192 ventilators but have only 133 ICU beds.
Experts say it is possible to reduce the complexity rate of the patients with Covid-19, who need to be taken to the ICU, if each bed has an oxygen supply system. And when it is not possible to ensure oxygen supply then ventilator is needed.
Specialist doctors strongly believe that if the oxygen supply is given properly, then there is no need of ventilators. So, Covid-19 dedicated hospital needs oxygen first.
The government has dedicated 19 hospitals in Dhaka and 8 hospitals outside Dhaka for corona treatment.
However, the Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital and Kurmitola General Hospital, which were first prepared for the corona tretment, still do not have a central oxygen supply system. The rest of the hospitals also do not have many necessary facilities, including the central oxygen supply facilities.
the first dedicated Kuwait-Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital for Covid-19, in reality there are 10 beds in operation, the rest of the beds have not been started yet and there are only 10 ventilators.
There was no oxygen system, sources said, there was only oxygen supply system with cylinders. Later when the ICU was installed, the cylinders were increased. At present the hospital has 123 oxygen cylinders.
Alimuzzaman, the administrative officer of the hospital, told the media that there was nothing in this hospital to treat Covid-19 patients and there was no budget to install such facilities. Now everything is changing on financial support from the government. An official of another dedicated Kurmitola General Hospital, said they wrote to the authority to install the central oxygen plant, but it is yet to get the approval.
No oxygen cylinder shortage for COVID-19 patients: health official. Oxygen cylinders are not in short supply in hospitals designated for COVID-19 patients or isolation units, a Health Directorate official has said yesterday .
“There is no lack of oxygen supply to the hospitals dedicated for coronavirus treatment and the isolation units of other hospitals. The information published by the media is incomplete and old,” Additional Director General Nasima Sultana said in a media briefing on Saturday.
There are 10,394 oxygen cylinders in the Upazila-level health facilities. The hospitals other than the medical colleges and specialised ones in the eight divisions have a total of 14,745 oxygen cylinders, she said. The official also said there is no lack of oxygen cylinders in Dhaka’s Kurmitola General Hospital and Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital.
The Kurmitola Hospital has 450 cylinders but no central system of oxygen supply for patients, while Kuwait Bangladesh Hospital has 120 cylinders and 12 manifold connector cylinder systems, , the official added.
The government is importing 3,050 more oxygen cylinders. “And the old ones can be refilled,” she said.
