Hospital beds won’t increase, do your part

It is not possible to increase the number of beds in hospitals any further, so the ordinary citizens must do their part to bring down the infection rate of the coronavirus, which is galloping away, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque yesterday.

In the past two months, the number of patients has increased seven times, he said while inaugurating a Covid-19 treatment facility at the convention centre of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital.

"We have been setting up more field hospitals and increasing the number of beds. But, that has a limit too."

There is no bed vacant in hospitals' Intensive Care Units (ICU), while almost all of the 17,000 general beds countrywide are occupied, according to Maleque.

As of noon yesterday, 87 percent of the 1,335 ICU beds for Covid-19 patients in the country were occupied, according to data from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The occupancy rate was 88 percent against 887 beds in case of the beds in High Deficiency Units (HDUs).

The occupancy rate was 68 percent for the beds that have High Flow Nasal Cannulas (HFNC) and 62 percent for the general beds.

The time has come to bring down the infection rate, Maleque said, adding that the recent Dengue outbreak has created another pressure on the hospitals as the same doctors, nurses and other health staffers are treating all types of patients.

But the transmission of the coronavirus does not take place in hospitals or clinics.

"You know where it happens -- out in the streets, in shops, in ferries, in factories, in villages markets by those who are not wearing masks and not maintaining the social distance."

Maleque went on to call for people's cooperation in flattening the curve of coronavirus.

BSMMU FILED HOSPITAL

About the newly inaugurated field hospital, Maleque said: "This hospital has all the necessary treatment arrangements for Covid-19 patients. However, only new and critically ill patients will be treated here."

Those whose oxygen saturation level will be 80 or below will be treated at the facility, said Debabrata Banik, coordinator of the hospital.

"If other patients come, we will also provide them with primary care, but will send them back to their homes after that," he told The Daily Star.

At present, the facility has 357 beds, which will be increased to 1,000 in phases, according to the BSMMU officials.

Of the 357 beds, there are 20 ICU and 20 HDU beds; the general beds have a central oxygen supply.