Syed Shemul Parvez :
Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport authorities have not yet received instructions from the government in advance to deal with the second wave of corona. With a limited number of health workers, they are struggling to cope with the pressure of returning thousands of passengers.
The Department of Health however claims that the country’s ports have taken the utmost preparations to meet the emergencies.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Zahid Maleque recently said, the health sector of the country is ready to tackle a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Corona has already attacked for the second time many countries of the world including Italy, France and the UK. At least 5,000 passengers are coming to Bangladesh every day from these countries out of which about four and a half thousand returned through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport only.
Health workers are instructing the passengers returning with negative corona certificate to stay at home quarantine. On the other hand, whose certificate has expired for 72 hours are being sent to the institutional quarantine.
But the fact is that the health department has not yet given any instructions about advance preparations, despite fears of infections among returning passengers.
It is mentionable that the spending of the government money on projects and procurements in the health sector have come under questions in recent times. The anti-graft agency is now looking into some scams involving those.
Experts however have suggested setting up more quarantine centers besides Hajj camps and Diabari to deal with the massive increase in infections.
It is learned that a total of 98 health workers including doctors and nurses are working at the capital airport health center.
But according to the health department claim, there are enough manpower; even it will be increased if necessary. Besides, the Department of Health has also requested the passengers returning home with Corona’s clearance to strictly abide by the hygiene rules while staying at homes for 14 days.
We tried to contact with Dr Mohammad Shahrier Sazzad, Assistant Director of Health Centres at HSIA, but couldn’t reach.
Earlier at the beginning of first wave of corona in the country, the administration of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) was struggling a lot to prevent China’s coronavirus entering Bangladesh due to a lack of staffs, proper equipments and awareness.
