In a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the local administration and the Khulna University’s Pharmacy Department, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangladesh has initiated manufacture of hand sanitizers and distributed those free among 4,000 poor people and village police personnel who are the front-line COVID-19 fighters in Khulna.
Iqbal Hossain, Deputy Director of Local Government, Khulna District Administration, and District Facilitator of UNDP’s Efficient and Accountable Local Governance (EALG) Project, coordinated the initiative, a UNDP press release said recently.
Explaining its urgency, Hossain said: “Officials and employees at all levels of the district administration have been working hard to ensure public service, including distribution of relief, to protect people from coronavirus.”
COVID-19 has put Bangladesh into an unforeseen challenging situation that led the government of Bangladesh to ask for shutdown of all economic activities except for emergency services and urge people to restrict mobility and stay at home.
Union Parishad functionaries and Village Police are the front-line people providing COVID response support at community level. “These sanitizers and safety kits have been provided to ensure the safety of front-line people providing COVID-19 response support and also all officers and employees involved with the district-wise relief program under the direction of the Deputy Commissioner,” said Mohammad Helal Hossain, Khulna’s Deputy Commissioner.
He thanked UNDP for providing the kits to the local administration, as it will help them maintain healthy social distancing. The sanitizers, produced by the department’s teachers and students following World Health Organisation’s guidelines, along with soaps, masks and hand gloves were distributed among local government agencies. Nuri Tasmin Urmi, Assistant Commissioner of Local Government, expressed her gratitude to Dr Ashish Kumar, the Head of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Khulna University, his colleagues and students; for successful manufacturing of the sanitizers at the local level with his 25-strong team comprised of 5 teachers and 20 students. So far 6,000 bottles of 100 mm each were distributed.
The safety kits were sent to the concerned offices by the district administration’s vehicle to avoid gatherings.
