The government has asked private medical facilities and doctors to give treatment to the coronavirus suspects as one more patient dies of the infectious disease. Three more patients have been detected with the coronavirus positive. With that, the number of coronavirus patients stood at 54. Of them six died and 25 made complete recovery, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said at the daily briefing on Wednesday 12pm.
“In the last 24 hours, 157 samples were collected and tested. Of these, three were found positive...one more person died in the last 24 hours. The total number of deaths from the coronavirus is now six,” he said. Later in the evening, secretary for health services Md Asadul Islam, director general for health services Prof Abul Kalam Azad, President of Bangladesh Medical Association Dr Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, President of Swadhinata Chiitshak Parisdha Prof Iqbal Arslan and President of Bangladesh Private Medical Practitioners Association Prfof Jamal Uddin Ahmed came to media after a joint technical meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office.
They asked doctors who stopped private practice to reopen their chamber with proper personal protective equipment (PPE). They also asked the private medical colleges not to bar patients with fever and cough. They said there is enough supply of PPE now in Bangladesh. The director general said they would take the testing facility to the upazilla level.
“You don’t need to come to any center. You just call to us,” he said, adding that people can contact at the Community Clinics. “The community clinics will manage to collect the samples for testing with the help of trained personnel at upazilla,” he said, they don’t want patients to come to the hospitals to prevent the spread of the disease.
“Our doctors will decide who need to be tested,” he said, adding that in Dhaka, they will collect samples from home, apart from hospitals. People have been urged to stay home as the government has extended the general holidays to April 11. Earlier health minister said that medical facilities are capable enough to handle the crisis.
“Every day, we’re improving our healthcare system. Ventilators are being added to different hospitals. In addition, we’re preparing more hospitals to treat coronavirus patients,” he said.
