A BBC report on May 16 said about 929 people died in the country over the past two months with symptoms of coronavirus but they were not accepted at any medical facility for tests. They were left to desperately run around to die unattended.
No hospital or clinics accepted them either for administering tests or for giving treatment. Their relatives were unable to arrange for a test or their admission for treatment. They were almost untouchable and so their fate was to die helpless without treatment.
The number is in excess of 349 reported deaths till Sunday. It appears that the government is trying to down play the impact of coronavirus by concealing the real numbers of fatalities in the ground. But hiding the truth will not spare the government of its failure to save the people.
This is indeed a shocking disclosure in which the BBC report has quoted figures made available by Dhaka University Center for Genocide Studies. It usually keeps watch on Rohingya issues but unusual deaths of corona patients were being also counted this time.
Neglect of the dire need for trusted medical care is a major failure of the government which is expecting the people to take life risks to be economically active.
The senior health officials are not seen organised for creating public consciousness about social distancing, using masks or the need of frequent hand washing etc. As health officials they should know best their responsibility toward the people at this critical time, yet, the people do not see their activities. It is a failure of their duty to the people. That awareness is missing from the entire government. The people are still coming out for the urgency of earning livelihoods.
Mere testing and tracing means nothing if those who are found positive cannot be isolated for treatment. But we are badly short of treatment facilities. The lockdown should be more effective if affected people are so isolated. The present miserably inadequate number of beds and absence of treatment facilities in hospitals are a national shame. Many of the admitted patients fled from the hospitals frightened by the conditions of inadequacy in the hospitals.
We do not to blame any individual but we are certainly disappointed that the lies are still used to hide the truth about publicly responsibility of public servants. The most disappointing thing is that the doctors and nurses who are putting their own lives in the frontline of death are also afraid to tell the truth and are thus consequently also dying.
The government itself is not fully aware as to how best to face the pandemic and save lives. They do not know how to trust the medical experts about the importance of treatment facilities in hospitals.
That is the sad reality to be found where the government has destroyed the public accountability of public servants. That is why most of them are isolated from public duty to remain safe.
The BBC report quoted the Amnesty International as saying the government is trying to silence the critics for demanding accountability for the death of so many people without access to treatment. The government so far arrested 50 using the digital ICT Act and are blaming them for spreading rumors. But at least 20 such arrests were directly related to demanding accountability, Amnesty said. It is not the time to arrest others allegedly for lying, it the time for the government officials to stop lying and admit the truth.
