A doctor of Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital has died after getting infected with coronavirus.
Dr Md Moyeen Uddin, died at Kurmitola General Hospital, Dhaka, at 6:45am on Wednesday.
Brig Gen Jamil Ahmed, director of the Kurmitola General Hospital confirmed the matter to the Dhaka Tribune.
On Monday he was transferred to the ICU of the hospital.
Moyeen was an assistant professor of Medicine at the Osmani Medical College Hospital.
On April 5, he tested positive for Covid-19, after Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) tested his sample. He was the first coronavirus patient in Sylhet.
Before that, Moyeen was in home-quarantine in his house from March, 30.
He left behind two children and his wife, who is also a doctor.
On April 7, his condition deteriorated and he was admitted to a local hospital. Later on April 8, he was shifted to Kurmitola General Hospital in Dhaka.
Allegations of not getting support from Osmani Medical authority and DGHS
Uproar from people on social media took place, as Moyeen was not getting the proper treatment in Sylhet, after his condition deteriorated.
A student of Dr Moyeen at the MAG Osmani Medical College hospital said a portion of doctors at the hospital wanted to admit him (Moyeen) at the hospital’s ICU but the hospital authority did not allow it.
“Sir wanted to go to Dhaka for better treatment, and there was an air ambulance of the Air Force available. But a recommendation was needed from the director general (DG) of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). However the DG did not give the recommendation when it was applied,” the student wishing not to be named said.
“Even a few days ago, an AC land was airlifted to CMH in Dhaka. The AC land is a grade nine official, whereas, sir was a grade six government official. He did get an ICU bed at neither his own hospital nor a government ambulance.” the student continued.
There was no maintenance team for the ventilator support at the Shamsuddin Hospital, also, the student added.
Osmani Medical Director Brig Gen Yunusur Rahman about allegation of not giving Moyeen proper treatment said: “Our hospital is a general hospital and do not have the support to treat Codiv-19 patients. And there are critical patients in our ICU and for that reason it was to possible to admit him here.”
“We wanted to treat him in Sylhet but his family decided to take him to Dhaka,” Brig Gen Yunusur added.
About allegations of not giving ambulance to take the doctor (Moyeen) to Dhaka, the Osmani director said, their hospital do not have any ICU support amburance and therefore, they referred the doctor to a private hospital who has ICU support ambulance.
54 doctors, infected in Bangladesh
As of Tuesday Around 100 healthcare professionals, including 54 doctors, have been tested positive for Covid-19 in the country according to Bangladesh Doctors’ Foundation (BDF).
BDF founder and Chief Administrator Dr Nirupam Das disclosed the tally to reporters. Two of the doctors are undergoing treatment in ICUs.
Earlier, in a Facebook post on Monday, Dr Nirupam wrote: “With utmost grief, we are announcing that the number of infected doctors has exceeded 50.”
BDF got the information from the authorities concerned, he added.
Most of the doctors infected were in Dhaka and Narayanganj—two major clusters of community transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes Covid-19.
Around 300 health professionals are currently in home quarantine, Dr Nirupam said.
The latest figures mark a threefold increase in the number of infected health professionals in just three days.
Earlier, the BDF estimated that 29 doctors, nurses, and other health workers had contracted the virus as of April 11.
According to media reports, at least five doctors were found to be Covid-19 positive on Tuesday.
Among them, three were in Dhaka district, including two in the capital city.
The two doctors in Dhaka were employed at a private hospital in Moghbazar. After the doctors and five nurses were diagnosed with the virus, the hospital was locked down.
To date, Bangladesh has reported 1,012 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with a death toll of 46.
As of Wednesday, Covid-19 infected over 1.9 million people and claimed 126,738 lives globally, since its discovery in December 2019, according to Worldometer.