Causing much worries to health professionals, 101 nurses from different government and no-government hospitals, treating coronavirus patients, have tested positive for Covid-19 in the capital. Secretary General of Society for Nurses Safety and Rights Sabbir Mahmud said a total of 121 nurses have so far been infected by the virus across the country. Of them, 14 tested positive in Mymensingh, four in Barisal, one in Rangpur and one in Sylhet.
“Among the infected nurses, two are pregnant, and four have recovered,” he said, adding that more than 300 nurses in Dhaka are currently in home quarantine, a bad omen of how the Covid-19 pandemic is hitting front-line caretakers. Sabbir Mahmud said that the information was collected from the latest survey done at 26 government hospitals and 11 private hospital clinics in Dhaka city. He said, “The data has sent shock waves to the country's already strained healthcare system.”
"These nurses, who were engaged in humanitarian work to fight against this pandemic, are now affected by this virus themselves”, Mahmud added. He blamed the standard of Personal Protective Equipment as a factor behind the increased number of Covid-19 patients among healthcare workers.
Mahmud said, "From the very beginning, public and private hospitals have not been able to provide adequate PPEs and other safety equipment. That is why maximum of the nurses are being infected.” "The risk of infection among nurses is increasing as many patients seeking treatment are hiding their health information. If we don't equip them with adequate protection, it will end up like in a war where soldiers don't die while fighting on the battlefield, but because of lack of equipment. The more medical personnel is infected, the weaker the responsiveness of the healthcare system", he said.
Mahmud further added, “Ensuring adequate protection will greatly reduce the risk of infection among nurses and increase the quality of healthcare in the country”.
