Clearly going against their professional obligations, more than 1,000 healthcare professionals, mostly doctors, have been forced to refrain from attending to patients as they have tested positive for Covid-19 across the country.
As many as 475 doctors, 320 nurses and 298 other healthcare professionals were diagnosed with Covid-19 as of Thursday afternoon, according to the estimates of some health-related associations.
The total number of infected doctors now stands at 475, up from merely 54 on April 14, according to the Bangladesh Doctors’ Foundation (BDF), a platform of local physicians.
Most of the doctors are from Dhaka division (343), followed by Mymensingh with 54 and Khulna with 25.
Meanwhile, according to the Bangladesh Basic Graduate Nurses Society, at least 320 nurses have already been infected while some 250 others are in quarantine as they came into contact earlier with infected patients.
According to the Bangladesh Medical Technologists Association, some 25 medical technologists have contracted Covid-19 so far, whereas the figure for diploma pharmacists stands at seven — all in government hospitals, claims the Bangladesh Diploma Pharmacists Association.
The Bangladesh Pharmacists Forum is yet to prepare any such list, but it claims to have been informed of some 30 such cases.
The majority of the infections are in Dhaka, followed by Narayanganj, Gazipur, and Kishoreganj. Most of the cases were at government hospitals, the associations say.
On the other hand, the Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) says 881 healthcare professionals (392 doctors, 191 nurses, and 298 other health workers) had been infected by coronavirus as of Thursday.
BDF Chairman Dr Md Shahed Rafi Pavel said more than 100 doctors were staying at home, awaiting testing while some 300 others had already gone into self-quarantine.
“All of them contracted the virus while treating patients,” he said.
Outcry for PPE continues
The upward trend of infections among health professionals continues amidst the widespread discontent voiced by healthcare professionals regarding the quality and distribution of personal protection equipment (PPE).
BDF Chairman Dr Pavel said they had been trying to draw the attention of the government to the issue, but in vain.
“The alarming rise in the curve of infections coupled with no visible measures for protection is spreading panic among the health professionals, thus hampering healthcare services as well,” he argued.
BMA Secretary General Ehteshamul Huq Chowdhury said besides the PPE issue, there was a lack of initiative about motivating healthcare professionals.
He mentioned that another major reason for doctors to be infected in great numbers was the fact of people concealing their symptoms to them. The BMA leader said: “Maybe they are misusing our cordial calls to them.”
“It is high time the government looked into the matter seriously to make sure nobody hides their symptoms while visiting doctors,” he suggested.
Govt strict against criticism
Several media reports have also questioned the quality of PPE provided to healthcare professionals.
However, the government seems to have adopted a strict approach to doctors making such criticisms.
On Wednesday, a doctor of Mugda General Hospital was made an officer on special duty (OSD) for reportedly questioning the quality of masks provided by the Central Medical Stores Depot.
Previously on April 17, a doctor at Noakhali General Hospital was served with a show cause letter for his criticism of the secretary of the Health Services Division on the issue of inadequate PPE.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on April 23 urged government employees not to speak to the media without obtaining permission from the higher authorities.
The Directorate General of Nursing and Midwifery on April 15 ordered all its officials and employees at government hospitals to refrain from speaking in public or to the media without prior permission.
