Bangladesh ranks 18 in the world in terms of total number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus – with over 160,000 confirmed cases and over 2,000 dead – and there is little sign of these numbers going down as a result of mismanagement, and a lack of coordination and implementation among and between governmental departments.
What is making the situation continuously worse is the fact that, as of June 20, our doctors had the highest mortality rate in the world when it comes to the coronavirus.
In fact, our frontline workers have continued to be disproportionately affected during the pandemic, with 1,658 doctors, 1,344 nurses (and 1,919 other medical staff), 11,000 police officers, over 3,000 members of the armed forces, and 40 judges infected, as of last count.
This is to say nothing of the hundreds amongst them whose lives were tragically taken away as a result.
There is little doubt that our frontline workers and the services they provide are of the utmost importance in our fight against the spread of the virus, and if they are being affected to such an extent, we must do everything in our power to ensure that it does not continue to happen.
As we have editorialized before, our frontline workers should not have to become martyrs in the pandemic -- we must take steps to ensure that they are provided with the highest quality PPE and that their services are managed properly moving forward, so that they are empowered to provide us with the services which are absolutely essential in the current climate.
It is our duty to do so. Let us not let them down.
