Hospitals in Narayanganj not ready yet for corona battle

Although Narayanganj has been declared as a hotspot of coronavirus infection, no hospital has yet been prepared in Narayanganj to fully treat Covid-19 patients.

It will take another 20 days to complete the task, said Resident Medical Officer Dr Samsuddoha Sanchay of Narayanganj 300-bed Hospital.

He said they were providing primary treatment to coronavirus-infected patients at their hospital but complete treatment is not possible without preparing the intensive care unit (ICU).

They will need 20 more days to establish the 10-bed ICU at the hospital, Dr Samsuddoha said.

He said they shifted all other patients elsewhere and started the process to set up a 40-bed isolation ward and a 10-bed ICU on April 8.

On April 11, a physician of the Medicine department of the hospital was found infected with Covid-19 and another one the following day, the RMO said.

On April 15, the move got a severe blow as 17 people, including hospital’s superintendent Dr Gautam Roy, were diagnosed with coronavirus.

Although the hospital started admitting Covid-19 patients from April 13, those in severe condition are being shifted elsewhere and a flue corner was also opened there, the RMO said.

He said they primarily installed the isolation ward with nine doctors, 18 nurses and six ward boys. “We sought more doctors and other necessary equipment for the hospital from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS),” he said.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to set up a lab at Narayanganj 300-bed Hospital for coronavirus.

An inspection team will soon visit the hospital in this regard. “We’ve talked to the directorate general of the Directorate General of Health Services about the installation of the testing lab and he approved it. An expert team from Dhaka will visit the hospital soon and equipment will be brought from the capital,” Dr Samsuddoha said.

On March 30, Narayanganj Press Club demanded that a lab be established in the district to test coronavirus.

Besides, 46 political and social organisations made the same demand.

On April 16, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also gave her consent to setting up a testing lab in Narayanganj.

According to the civil surgeon office, 346 people have so far found infected with coronavirus in the district while 26 of them died.

Around 20 percent of the total Covid-19 patients in the country are from Narayanganj, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).

Meanwhile, seven more people died from coronavirus in Bangladesh in the last 24 hours till Sunday, taking the death toll in the country to 91.

Besides, a 312 more people tested positive for coronavirus during the period, raising the number of such cases in the country to 2,456.

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