Within a week of the first Covid-19 cases being reported in Bangladesh, the government scrambled to ensure personal protective equipment (PPEs) for the doctors and healthcare workers across the country to ensure their safety.
However, nearly after a month, the government’s Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) estimates that at least 2.5 million sets of PPEs will be needed to tackle the coronavirus.
CMSD Director Big Gen Mohammad Shahidullah said the figure is based on the existing facilities and estimated possible new isolation centres.
“At least 2.5 million full sets of PPEs would be needed to tackle the situation,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
On the components the CMSD has so far supplied to healthcare professionals, Shahidullah elaborated that PPEs refer to the full set of protective equipment and consist of garments used to protect the health care workers or any other persons from getting infected.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), PPE usually consists of standard precautions -- gloves, mask, gown, but If it is airborne high infections, like the novel coronavirus, it will include face protection, goggles and mask or face shield, gloves, gown or coverall, head cover, and shoe covers or rubber boots.
The CMSD, however, says the requirement for PPEs could go up as the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) is yet to fix the number of facilities to treat Covid-19 patients.
According to the Hospital and Patient Care Group of the DGHS’s Integrated Control Room, some 72,000 beds and over 100 ICUs in more than 80 public and private hospitals across the country have been so far set aside as isolation units.
DGHS Assistant Director Ayesha Akther of the Integrated Control Room told the Dhaka Tribune that they are yet to estimate the required number of isolation beds and healthcare facilities in each district.
550,000 PPEs collected in a month against estimated one million
The coronavirus outbreak left top health officials in Bangladesh scrambling to ensure all-out support for healthcare professionals.
A source at the DGHS Integrated Control Room’s logistic and supply group told the Dhaka Tribune that within a week of the first cases being reported, they were told to draw up an estimated requirement, which was forwarded within a few days based on the existing facilities across the country.
The list of medical facilities included 491 Upazila Health Complexes, 64 district hospitals, 35 medical college hospitals and 17 specialized hospitals. It also included an estimated requirement of PPEs for isolation units and makeshift Out Patient Departments (OPDs) at the facilities.
Professor Dr Samiul Islam, the focal person of the DGHS Control Room’s logistic group, told the Dhaka Tribune last week that they have forwarded a requirement of one million PPEs for the first month and that they were scheduled for a meeting in the first week of April to assess the situation.
According to figures provided by the CMSD, some 448,974 PPEs have been distributed against a stock of 546,952 since the novel coronavirus outbreak began.
