The first field hospital in Bangladesh to serve coronavirus patients has been set up in Chattogram under a private initiative. It took just 20 days for a public health expert Dr Bidduth Barua to set up the 50-bed Chattogram Field Hospital at Faujdarhat.
The hospital started taking patients from Tuesday. In a facebook group, the hospital also posted the video of the first patient they received with empathy.
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.
“Already 50 general beds and five ventilators have been placed,” he told Bangladesh Post, adding that service would be provided both outdoor and indoor round the clock. “Now we’ll start setting up 10 intensive care unit (ICU) beds.”
“Everything will be free here since we built it with people’s money. We’ll bear the patients’ medicine and other costs. An ambulance has also been placed for emergency use,” he said.
So far 15 doctors have joined him.
The hospital will have a regular staff of 40 to 50. According to the roster, 3 to 4 doctors will be on duty. Nurses and ward-boys will serve on a roster as well, Dr Barua said.
Chattogram Divisional Health Office Director Hasan Shahriar Kabir visited the hospital Sunday and appreciated the initiative.
“This sort of initiation is appropriate to fight against the coronavirus. Such initiatives will reduce stress in public hospitals. We have asked the hospital authorities to reach out for any assistance they need.”
The number of coronavirus cases is rising in the port city of Chattogram with 43 cases as of April 20.
