NEWS DESK

As many as 324 doctors from government, private and specialised hospitals were so far infected with Covid-19 till 10:30am today, said Dr Nirupam Das, chief administrator of the foundation.

The number of infected doctors was 100 till April 18.

According to the foundation, the main reasons behind the high rate of infection among doctors and other health workers in Bangladesh are: "poor quality" of personal protective equipment (PPE) provided to doctors, community transmission and patients concealing having coronavirus symptoms.

Sometimes, doctors are not put in isolation and quarantine right after any of their colleagues exhibit Covid-19 like symptoms, the organisation said.

The foundation says several infected doctors are from hospitals not designated for Covid-19 treatment or they tested positive before the hospitals they work at were designated for coronavirus treatment. Patients hiding coronavirus symptoms while receiving treatment there may have contributed largely to the transmission, the doctors say.

"We are at risk and the risk is growing everyday when people are hiding symptoms of Covid-19," a doctor, wishing anonymity, of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital said yesterday.

Doctors also have serious concerns about the quality of PPEs, especially masks, provided by the authorities concerned.

Senior doctors and healthcare experts have said that all government and private hospitals across the country need to be brought under a central system as nearly 70 percent of healthcare services are provided by private hospitals.