Thousands of beds for coronavirus patients in Bangladesh are lying empty despite the country struggling with a rising caseload as people are too scared to enter hospitals, officials and sufferers say.
Some patients have bluntly told health workers they would “rather die at home than die in a hospital”, an official for a medical charity told.
Coronavirus in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has registered about 180,000 COVID-19 infections, and around 3,000 new cases are being added each day, while the death toll stood at 2,275 by Friday.
But medical experts say the real figures are likely much higher because so little testing has been carried out.
In the capital Dhaka, about 4,750 of 6,305 beds set aside for coronavirus patients are not being used, the government’s health department acknowledged.
At a new 2,000-bed field hospital especially built to fight the pandemic, only about 100 patients are inside.
Read more: Bangladeshi exports drown as pandemic hits cloth makers
Authorities in the second city of Chittagong, which has emerged as a virus hotspot, say only half of its dedicated hospital beds are currently filled.
The two cities have a combined population of 25 million and account for around 80 percent of Bangladesh’s 87,000 active cases.
Bangladesh’s coronavirus cases jump by 3,360 https://t.co/9uXVgjw8y7’s-coronavirus-cases-jump-by-3360
— Somoy TV (@somoytv) July 9, 2020
The health department said the beds were not being used because many sufferers were being treated at home.
Fake coronavirus certificates for Bangladeshis
More than a dozen Bangladeshi health workers have been arrested on charges of selling thousands of fake COVID-19 negative certificates, officials confirmed on Friday, as the country reels under a surge in coronavirus cases.
The scandal came to light after a Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) raid on Regent Hospital in Dhaka on Monday. The private hospital was one of the health facilities chosen by the Bangladesh government to treat coronavirus patients.
“The hospital collected more than 10,000 samples and tested only 4,200 of them at different government health facilities. But they issued COVID-19 reports for all,” Lt. Col. Ashik Billah, spokesman of the elite anti-crime unit of the Bangladeshi police, told.
Read more: First Rohingya coronavirus casualty reported in Bangladesh
He said that Regent Hospital authorities prepared fake coronavirus reports at a computer lab next to the hospital building.
The health ministry signed an MoU with Regent Hospital and turned it into a special COVID test and treatment facility. Now the hospital, run by an #AwamiLeague leader, has been caught issuing fake COVID test reports. The COVID outbreak is being managed in #Bangladesh this way. pic.twitter.com/v9i1wbEgYp
— Pinaki Bhattacharya (@PinakiTweetsBD) July 7, 2020
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) said on Thursday that it would launch an investigation into irregularities at Regent Hospital. Health Ministry officials will also be screened in relation to the case, ACC secretary Dilwar Bakht told reporters.
It is believed that those producing fake coronavirus certificates catered especially to Bangladeshis who needed COVID-19 clearance to travel abroad.
Hospital phobia among populace
“Most of the patients have mild symptoms. Adequate telemedicine services are available. That may be the reason for empty beds in hospitals,” department deputy head Nasima Sultana told.
The number of beds had been boosted in anticipation of extra cases, she added.
But health experts and virus sufferers say people are worried about the level of care they would receive in a public hospital.
“They told us they would rather die at home than die in a hospital,” a senior official for the Al Manahil charity in Chittagong, which provides ambulance and burial services, told.
A survey of more than 80,000 people carried out with United Nations backing found 44 percent of Bangladeshis were “too scared” to even call the government’s COVID-19 helpline. Many feared being taken to hospital if testing positive.
Read more: Virus cases reported lowest: Has UK successfully contained the Corona?
Bangladesh’s public hospitals are not “patient friendly”, according to Rashid e Mahbub, head of the Bangladesh Health Rights Movement.
“A negative perception has been created and that is prompting many patients to stay at home. Few people can afford the expensive private hospitals.”
Only people with serious respiratory problems go to public facilities, said the activist.
“A significant number of COVID-19 patients are dying at home.”
A woman who was among eight members of her family to contract the virus said all of them had stayed home.
Even when her mother’s breathing fell to “danger levels”, the family did not send her to a hospital and instead rented oxygen cylinders, the woman told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the nature of her job.
“We heard the doctors and nurses don’t come near patients for fear of being infected,” she said.
Read more: Bangladesh economy in peril as US & Europe cancels billion dollars of orders
Bangladesh hospitals had a poor reputation even before the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 500,000 patients travelling to India last year for treatment, according to official figures.
Thousands of wealthier Bangladeshis go to Thailand or Singapore for check-ups, but with the pandemic hitting international travel, they have been unable to leave the country.
AFP with additional input by GVS News Desk