The number of coronavirus-infected healthcare professionals keeps rising, posing a challenge to the handling of a growing number of COVID-19 patients in Bangladesh, insiders in the public service said.
With the number of confirmed cases among doctors, nurses and others growing alarmingly, the medical workforce is more strained than ever because of inadequate or substandard safety kits, they added.
The result is obvious: In emergency rooms, intensive care units at healthcare centres, typically dispassionate caregivers are getting panicked for increasing cases of infections among their colleagues.
Physicians and nurses, who are globally recognised as frontline fighters against coronavirus, are reporting inadequate and substandard gears, lax protocol and high stress in the workplace.
To them, the worst situation is still to come.
Many of the fighters at healthcare centres now consider it inevitable to get infected with the new coronavirus.
According to Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), as many as 3,382 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 until Tuesday morning and more than 300 of the cases were healthcare professionals.
Of the infected caregivers, 200 are physicians and more than 100 are nurses and staff members.
A doctor has already died of this pneumonia-like disease.
Bangladesh Doctors' Foundation chairman Dr Md Shahed Rafi Pavel said at least 30 doctors tested COVID-19 positive in the past 24 hours until Tuesday, raising the tally to 200.
"Physicians are the frontline fighters against coronavirus but they are getting infected while serving patients for lack of personal safety gear," he added.
The World Health Organisation recommends N95 face mask for on-duty doctors but they are getting substandard and sometimes fake materials, he alleged.
Mr Pavel said some unaware patients are still taking treatment at hospitals with hiding their real identity and information, including their travel details to corona hotspots home and abroad.
"It also enhanced the risk of infections. These triggered serious panic among healthcare professionals," he told the FE.
"Physicians are delivering service round the clock in panic," said Prof Dr Faruque Ahmed, director of Sheikh Russell Gastro Liver Institute and Hospital dedicated to dealing with COVID-19 cases.
Seeking anonymity, a physician at the hospital said they regularly come out of home with fears in mind that they might be infected at any time.
"In fact, I consider getting infected with the deadly virus is an inevitability now," he added.
On allegations of supplying inferior safety kits to caregivers, health ministry has formed a three-member probe body led by additional secretary (development) for health services division M Saidur Rahman.
The investigators have been asked to submit a report within three working days, according to DGHS official.
Meanwhile, public health rights activist Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub was highly critical of the delivery of substandard protective kits to frontline fighters. He said such low-grade safety gears would further endanger the healthcare system in this trying time.
Mr Mahbub spoke about acute shortages of healthcare professionals in the country.
When the pandemic virus struck here, a band of physicians and nurses stopped caring patients to avoid getting infected.
"I think we shouldn't do anything that will weaken the available workforce morally. We need to ensure their safety because they are the frontline fighters."
