BDF Presents Alarming Picture of Doctors Catching Covid-19 in BD

On average, two doctors get infected per hour as they battle against the novel coronavirus in both government and private hospitals around the world.

This was confirmed on Tuesday by the Bangladesh Doctors Foundation (BDF), the Physicians' Forum, when they delivered their regular briefing, which reflects on how physicians, when well as other health professionals, handle things.

"Together 49 doctors tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours before 5 a.m. on Tuesday, taking the total number of doctors diagnosed with the virus to 422 in Bangladesh so far," said Nirupam Das, the foundation's chief administrator.

An extraordinary 308 physicians-to be noted, these are only doctors, not even nurses or health professionals-have been diagnosed with the virus in Dhaka alone, with 191 of them from government hospitals, 97 from private clinics, and the remaining 20 from 'Other.'

The second-worst medical division-after Dhaka, but well behind-was Mymensingh with 46 doctors who had been infected; Chattogram with 14, Khulna with 13, Barishal with 10, 6 in Sylhet, 5 in Rangpur and 20 others whose positions had not been recorded on the list.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s own numbers, the country had just 6 doctors, nurses, and midwives - essentially 6 healthcare workers for every 10,000 people until July 2019.

Asked regarding the health of doctors when handling coronavirus patients, Dr. Nirupam said Saturday that there is no alternative to personal protective equipment (PPE), professional garments, helmets, gloves, and goggles for medical protection.

BDF has 90,000 members around the world, Dr. Nirupam said, all of whom are registered physicians.

Bangladesh on Monday recorded 5,913 coronavirus cases and 152 deaths.

Source: UNB