Noman Mosharef :
The health authorities have come under growing criticism for wrapping up two of their dedicated Covid-19 isolation centers and hospitals in the capital.
They built a mega field hospital for the treatment of Covid-19 patients at the Bashundhara Convention Centre in Dhaka at the cost of Tk 31.27 crore and another facility at the DNCC’s market with the expense of Tk 13.56 crore.
The 2,013-bed facilities were set up at the Bashundhara Convention Centre by health engineering department to help ease pressure on the country’s healthcare infrastructure amid growing number of Covid patients after the country was badly hit by the first wave of the pandemic.
Health Minister Zahid Malek inaugurated the Bashundhara Hospital on May 17, 2020. During the opening ceremony Zahid Malek said, “No country can even develop such a big Covid-19 dedicated hospital within a very short time. But did it.”
But the authorities rolled back the facility four months ago due to drop in coronavirus patients in the city hospitals.
Public health experts said the decision of withdrawing the facility was not ‘wise’ considering the current situation of the pandemic.
Md Abdul Hamid Sarkar, Additional Chief Engineer of Health Engineering Department told the media that they were not responsible for withdrawal of the structure. It was the decision of DGHS.
Health Engineering Department had built another Covid-19 dedicated hospital with 1390 beds on second floor of Mohakhali’s DNCC market. But now dust gathers there after the health authorities declared it abandoned.
Interestingly, the Health Ministry is now making arrangement to build another hospital on same building’s fifth floor, which was recently visited by the Health Minister Zahid Malek.
During the visit, he said, it needs to build new hospitals to tackle the emergency situation.
Talking over the issue to media, Zahid Malek said, about six months the Basundhara Hospital was empty. There was no single patient. Then the government decided to wrap-up the mega structure.
Prof Dr. M Muzaherul Hoque, a former Adviser of WHO told The New Nation that withdrawal of the two mega Covid-19 dedicated hospitals prove the government’s indifference to the pandemic issue. “Lack of co-ordination on the part of the concerned authorities and their imprudence led to take such an ‘illogical’ decision. The move also caused to wastage of public money.”
The health expert also criticized the government for its slow preparedness and response to the pandemic. “The government had no proper preparations to tackle the first wave of deadly coronavirus. Even we see the same situation during the ongoing second wave of the pandemic.”
“Healthcare systems in the capital and across the country have come under severe pressure due to surge in Covid patients. The dedicated Covid facilities in the capital are turning away patients due to lack of general and ICU beds.
“The public health experts suggested the government to keep the Basundhara hospital till the end of second wave. But the authorities did not pay heed to the advice. If those mega structures remain in operation that would help ease the pressure,” added Prof Hoque.
