Bagerhat has had ICU equipment for 6 months. But they still cannot offer advanced care for COVID patients

At the start of this year, the Ministry of Health allocated equipment for 10 ICU beds to Bagerhat Sadar Hospital for the construction of a unit capable of handling the advanced care of coronavirus patients.

But, six months later, as COVID cases continue to rise throughout the country, the equipment remains unused.

ICU facilities have not been set up due to a lack of skilled manpower and infrastructure, according to KM Humayun Kabir, the district’s civil surgeon.

“A tender has been provided for the construction of this infrastructure,” he said. “Work will begin soon.”

Now, the authorities are planning to install new infrastructure by constructing a sixth floor on the five-storey hospital and setting up the ICU there, he added.

The Public Works Department has already floated the tender for the project, but Kabir believes it will still take another year or so to complete the work.

And, even then, they need workers who have the proper training to run the unit.

The capacity of Bagerhat Sadar Hospital was raised from 100 beds to 250 after another five-storey building was added to the health care facility in recent years. But a portion of the building still remains unused due to a lack of necessary staff.

The Directorate General of Health Services, or DGHS, opened a 50-bed COVID-dedicated unit at the new building as cases began to rise. Currently, coronavirus tests and care for infected patients is undertaken at the new building.

But patients who lapse into critical condition have to be sent to Khulna due to the lack of ICU beds. Patients experiencing breathing difficulties only have support from the central oxygen unit.

Bagerhat weathered the first wave of coronavirus infections and the start of the second wave in April fairly well, but cases and deaths began to rise in the district this May. Even now, the positivity rate for coronavirus tests in the district continues to fluctuate between 40 and 50 percent.

Bagerhat has reported 3,030 cases of COVID-19 so far and logged 88 deaths from the disease.

The district began preparations to tackle the pandemic soon after the first COVID patient was identified on Mar 8, 2020, the local civil surgeon said.

After the first wave of the pandemic, an adequate supply of oxygen cylinders was kept at the hospital for the treatment of patients. Currently, the hospital has a stock of 150 large and small oxygen containers.

“We asked the government to provide a central oxygen unit so we could ensure proper care for our patients, and they made the necessary arrangements,” Humayun Kabir said. “Each of the COVID unit’s 50 beds has oxygen facilities. We also have six high-flow nasal cannulas.”

Central oxygen tanks were put in place at the start of this year. Patients have been receiving oxygen through the system since June. The central system houses 7,000 litres of oxygen. If the rate of usage remains regular, the supply could last three months.

Though there isn’t a crisis in the oxygen supply, there is a crisis of manpower, said Dr Md Mirajul Karim, the RMO at Bagerhat Sadar Hospital.

For the past two decades the hospital, which has a capacity of 100 beds, has been making do with a staff who can only care for about 50, he said.

Under the current administration, the bed capacity has increased to 250, but the number of workers at the hospital has not increased accordingly.

Only five of the 12 positions for senior and junior consultants at the main hospital are currently filled, while only three of 15 medical officer posts are occupied.

Since the 50-bed Dedicated COVID Hospital in Bagerhat began operations, the health ministry has allocated 22 doctors and 50 nurses to it. They are the ones currently overseeing the care of patients there.