Chattogram Field Hospital, which is the first temporary facility for coronavirus patients in Bangladesh, has served 331 patients in a month.
Founder of the hospital Dr Bidduth Barua came live on the social media platform of the hospital on Thursday night and thanked all for their generous support.
He said they are developing the hospital by the day and with the support of people “it becomes a modern facility now”.
Already 22 people went back home virus free from the hospital. One died.
“We tried our best. He came too late,” Dr Barua, who is also serving patients as the chief of the hospital, said about the dead.
“It’s a team work,” he said, based on his experience of managing coronavirus patients.
“Only negligence can cause terrible consequences of patients. Negligence on the part of the patient himself, the patient’s relatives, healthcare workers (doctors, nurses and technologists) and hospitals can lead to bad consequences.
“So everyone has a responsibility behind the recovery of coronavirus patient,” he said.
It took just 20 days for the public health expert Dr Bidduth Barua to set up the 50-bed Chattogram Field Hospital at Faujdarhat.
The hospital started taking patients from April 21. They also run outdoor service.
Dr Barua who studied at Dhaka Medical College and later in Europe floated the idea in a facebook post in the last week of March when there were reports that people with coronavirus symptoms were denied access to healthcare.
In a facebook post, he said he wants to ‘live’ with coronavirus patients and give them ‘compassionate’ care.
Following the post, Navana Group came forward and gave him a space at their building in Faujdarhat which is close to the coronavirus testing laboratory – Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID).
After that Dr Barua sought Tk 100 donation from 100,000 people through a facebook page to make it a facility owned by all. He received huge response.
The construction work started on April 1.
“We need more support,” Dr Barua said on Thursday marking the first-month completion of the hospital.
“The more you will support us the better we can equip the hospital with modern equipment,” he said.
“We believe in quality not quantity,” he said.
Initially they used to give oxygen therapy, which is the key for the coronavirus patients when they face breathing problems, using cylinders.
It will be a central oxygen supply system soon. “The work is in progress. It’ll happen soon,” he said.
“But by this time we could add oxygen concentrator machine that could ensure continuous flow of oxygen,” he said.
“All are working here voluntarily from doctors to nurses to our assistants. We need your continuous support. We provide everything for the patient when they stay here from food to medicines…ambulance service, everything,” he said.
The average hospital stay of a coronavirus patient is 15 days.
“With our limited capacity and seats, our focus is on quality service, not the quality. We’ll not keep any patient on the floor. We set up beds maintaining WHO prescribed distance,” Dr Barua said.
“At least we can say that patients leave the hospital with complete satisfaction,” he said, adding that the hospital will soon have its own ICU facility.
