The outbreak of Covid-19 in the country resulted in a tough situation for all patients, but persons with disabilities — who are heavily dependent on caregivers for their wellbeing — have been in the worst state.
Bangladesh has a poor ratio of doctors, nurses and technologists, and a lack of trained nurses is causing a deterioration in the health services provided to people with disabilities, said Dr Anwara Begum, senior research fellow at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
She was making a presentation on a recent study, “Healthcare for Persons with Disabilities in the Time of Coronavirus", at the BIDS Fortnightly Seminar 2021 on Wednesday afternoon.
WHO recommends a doctor, nurse and technologist ratio of 1:3:5, but in Bangladesh it is 1:0.4:0.24, she noted, explaining that there were fewer than 0.4 nurses for 1,000 people — one of the worst figures in the world.
“According to WHO recommendations, Bangladesh is short of over 90,000 doctors, 273,000 nurses and 455,000 technologists,” she added.
She said a lack of physical and technical facilities, educated and experienced teaching staff, and required tools and equipment were some of the key issues in the training of nurses.
Emphasizing the importance of nurses, Dr Anwara Begum said they were the ones providing many key healthcare services to patients.
Apart from the shortage of healthcare professionals, some other factors that also made access to healthcare limited were issues such as persons with disabilities operating under a shadow of social stigma and experiencing financial and social dependency, and requiring caregivers, guides and interpreters.
Over 94% of the respondents of the study mentioned they already had limited capacity, and lack of education and income made them more vulnerable when receiving treatment amid the pandemic, Dr Anwara Begum said.
These patients needed more care while travelling to healthcare facilities, more so due to the restrictions on public movement amid the Covid-19 crisis, but health workers were more focused on treating Covid-19 patients, isolating patients with disabilities, the researcher said.