Reza Mahmud :
There are no beds empty in the Intensive Care Units in eight of 16 government covid-19 dedicated hospitals in Dhaka.
The information came from the daily covid-19 updates by the Directorate General of Health Services on Friday.
The health authority says that Corona patients are being treated at 16 government hospitals in the capital Dhaka.
The DGHS data showed that there are no ICU beds in eight of the 16 government hospitals for giving medical treatment of emergency patients.
It showed that Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Hospital has 26 ICU beds, Kurmitola General Hospital has 10 beds, Sheikh Russell Gastroliver Hospital has 16 beds, Government Employees Hospital has six beds, Dhaka Medical College Hospital has 20 beds, Mugda Medical College Hospital has 24 beds and Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital has 10 beds and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital has 20 ICU beds, all of those are fully occupied.
Among the remaining hospitals, Rajarbagh Police Hospital has five beds blank from its 15 ICU seats, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases has three out of 10 beds, TB Hospital has 14 out of 16 beds, National Chest Disease Institute and Hospital has four out of 10 beds and DNCC Dedicated Hospital has only 75 out of 212 beds.
Of those covid-19 dedicated hospitals, the Infectious Diseases Hospital, the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital and the National Institute of Kidney Diseases and Urology have no ICU beds.
Public health experts said that the delta variant is responsible for the current surge of the covid infections across the country.
They also said that the variant is severe than the others as the delta variant make the patients more vulnerable.
In a recent study, Icddr,b revealed that among the Covid-19 patients in the capital, more than 60 percent have been infected with the Delta variant.
And this study was conducted between the last week of May and the first week of June, when the situation was not so worse like the present scenario.
The infection rate now stood at 30.95 percent on Friday.
Dr. Nazmul Islam, Spokesman of the DGHS said that if the trend of contamination continuing for more days like now, the health care facilities could not bear it.
When contacted, Professor Dr. M. Muzaherul Huq, former Advisor of the World Health Organisation told The New Nation, “The hospitals in frontiers and all upazilas and districts should be well equipped to cope the emergency situation of covid-19 spreading.”
He said, “The district and upazila level hospitals must equipped with necessary medical supplies like central oxygen system, high-flow nasal cannula, ICU beds and other facilities so that the emergency patients can be treated there without rushing to Dhaka,”
