The Tangail General Hospital is yet to launch an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) despite the rising number of Covid-19 cases and deaths across Bangladesh.
Moreover, there has been no visible progress with regards to the hospital's plan to set up a central oxygen plant.
The 250-bed Tangail General Hospital is the district's largest medical centre, serving a population of about 4 million people. Despite over a year having passed since the arrival of the pandemic, the hospital still lacks the treatment facilities to accommodate Covid-19 patients.
Residents have expressed grave concerns about the growing number of Covid-19 patients in the district, as well as the lack of necessary medical facilities at local hospitals.
Following the coronavirus outbreak, the prime minister announced in parliament on April 18, 2020, that her government will take steps to set up ICUs at every district hospital.
Speaking on the matter, Tangail General Hospital Deputy Director Khandakar Sadiqur Rahman said: “We are almost done with setting up the ICU for Covid-19 patients. Soon, we will be able to plug in 10 ICU beds on the first floor of the hospital’s main building.
The work of setting up a central oxygen plant at the hospital was also in its final stages, he added.
Tangail Civil Surgeon Dr Abul Fazal Md Shahabuddin also said that the process of installing ICU beds was almost complete at the Tangail General Hospital, and that there is a plan to upgrade the 50-bed Covid-19 isolation unit to 70 beds.
According to the Tangail Civil Surgeon's Office, 14 people were infected with the coronavirus in the last 24 hours.
The first Covid-19 patient was detected in the district on April 8 last year, and the number of patients stood at 4,582 as of Wednesday. Among them, 70 patients have died and 3,591 people have recovered, so far.
An ICU facility at Tangail General Hospital is long overdue on account of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the district, said Khan Md Khaled, president of the district branch of Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik (SUJAN), an NGO that advocates good governance.
“Although it has been one year since the first Covid-19 patient was identified in the district, the local health department is yet to launch the ICUs. They are sorely needed to ease the suffering of local patients, who are being forced to commute to the capital for health services,” he added.
