Covid-19 situation likely to worsen

There were four critical patients waiting to be admitted in the Chapainawabganj district hospital. Only two of them were admitted while two others had to return.

One of the latter two was Md Saidul, 85. His oxygen saturation level decreased to 67, estimated a nurse in the hospital. This was very risky yet Saidul could not be admitted due to shortage of beds.

While returning home, Saidul’s daughter Sufia Begum told Prothom Alo that she waited for one and a half hours to admit her father but to no avail.

She said that sample for coronavirus test was taken though.

There were 20 beds allocated for Covid-19 patients in Chapainawabganj district hospital and this was increased to 50 on Saturday. The beds were filled by 3.30pm the same day.

Like Chapainawabganj, Covid-19 patients have increased in some other districts. The infection rates in those areas increased by two to four fold. In such a situation, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) officially announced that the corona situation may worsen in June.

Besides border-lying districts, the Indian strain or Delta variant of the fatal coronavirus has been detected in multiple districts. The DGHS has asked the hospitals of those districts to admit critical patients only.

DGHS spokesperson and director of Non-communicable Disease Control (NCDC) Robed Amin said, the Covid-19 situation in June will no longer be as comfortable as the previous month. They are concerned about the way the infection is spreading. He said community transmission of the Delta variant has begun in the country. Its transmission capacity is higher than other types. He said, the higher the infection rate, the higher the death rate.

Meanwhile, the number of new patients, the detection rate and death rate are all increasing again across the country. The death toll in the last 24 hours was 38, according to the DGHS health bulletin Sunday. Most of the dead are from border-lying districts including Rajshahi. Covid detection rates rose again to 11 per cent, which earlier decreased to 6 to 7 per cent. In the first six days of June, more than 10,000 corona patients have been detected.

Corona situation likely to get worse

Test results show that the number of corona patients is increasing in the border-lying districts. In the last 24 hours Sunday, the corona detection rate was 41 per cent as per the samples tested in two laboratories in Rajshahi. Samples of surrounding districts are also tested in these two laboratories. Besides, the detection rate in Jashore was about 26 per cent, in Satkhira 38 per cent and in Khulna 16 per cent. As of Saturday, the detection rate in Chapainawabganj was about 41 per cent.

As per past experience, deaths increase within two to three weeks of new patients emerging.

Hospitals grappling with rush of patients

The number of patients in hospitals designated for corona treatment in border districts has been increasing. Many hospitals have more patients than the number of beds. Many are being admitted to the hospital at the last moment. Intensive Care Unit (ICU) services are not adequate in meeting the demand.

Chapainawabganj district hospital Residential Medical Officer (RMO) Nadeem Sarkar said, “The number of cases is so high that beds will be filled even if the number of beds is increased to 200 at the moment. But this hospital does not have the capacity to manage more than 50 beds.”

Additional director general of DGHS Meerjady Sabrina Flora visited the Sonamasjid land port and district hospital of Chapainawabganj on Sunday.

She told the media, “High infection rate can turn into a serious crisis for any country. The current situation in the country is not normal. It cannot be tackled without adhering to the health rules”.

In Khulna Medical College Hospital, 100 beds have been dedicated to Covid-19 patients. According to hospital sources, 125 patients were admitted there till Sunday morning. Of these, 95 were Covid-19 patients and 30 were symptomatic. There were 13 patients in the ICU and 12 in the HDU of the hospital.

The spokesperson of the hospital Mehedi Newaz said, “It was the first time 130 patients were admitted at a time in the hospital after the corona unit was built.

“Logistic support in the hospital is not adequate. Also another unit for the Covid patients should be made along with increasing the number of physicians and nurses. Otherwise, it will be hard to handle so many patients,” he said further.

At the Natore Sadar Hospital, 37 patients were admitted to the 31 beds allotted for the Covid-19 patients till Sunday noon. Paritosh Kumar Roy, assistant director of the hospital, said he was forced to keep Covid patients in another ward. Almost everyone has to be provided with oxygen 24 hours a day.

Rajshahi Medical College Hospital has 232 beds in the ward dedicated to corona treatment. As many as 235 patients were admitted to the hospital till Sunday noon. This is the highest number of corona patients at the hospital so far. The director of the hospital, Shamim Yazdani, said they had been forced to admit more patients than beds as an alternative. Another unit for corona treatment will be opened in a day or two.

Restrictions

Due to growing Covid-19 cases, two border-lying districts were placed under complete lockdown while seven other districts were partially locked down. Besides, special restrictions were imposed in two other districts.

The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) director Tahmina Shirin told Prothom Alo that the preparations in the hospitals in border-lying districts with high infection rate are very poor.

Many of the hospitals do not have adequate oxygen supply and central oxygen facilities.

She said, “The number of critical patients will increase if the infection rate increases adding extra pressure on the hospitals. That is why people will have to work side by side with the government to contain the spread of the virus.”

Public health experts said, restrictions should be strengthened in the border-lying districts alongside implementing health rules.

They also emphasised the need for more tests and contact tracing and patient management to tackle the situation.

Muzaherul Huq, a former consultant for the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Southeast Asia region, told Prothom Alo that where infections are on the rise, the supply of oxygen to treat patients needs to be increased.

“Adequate number of oxygen masks and high flow nasal cannula should be provided,” he added.

He said the government had failed to involve the people in complying with the health rules. It will not be possible to control the corona without involving the people.