COVID-19 is rapidly exhausting Bangladesh healthcare system amidst alarming rise of infected people

Lockdown or no-lockdown — which is the answer for Bangladesh?

Since Sunday, May 31, after a two-month long nationwide lockdown was lifted, Bangladesh has witnessed a record number of deaths due to COVID every single day. At present, official figures show that there are 87,520 confirmed cases and 1,171 deaths, though real figures are believed to be higher. As massive commotion and crises sweep through the country, public healthcare systems are failing largely, resulting in no signs of the COVID-19 contraction curve plateauing
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Incompetency of public healthcare amid the pandemic crisis

On June 8, when a virtual high court headed by Justice M Enayetur Rahim inquired about the healthcare facilities in the country, the Department of Health released the following information: there are only 1,000 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for a total population of 165 million, combining the capacity of the public and private sectors. According to reports, there are no ICU facilities in 47 districts out of 64 districts in Bangladesh. This huge shortage of intensive care units means that a lot of people in critical conditions have to delay treatment amidst the surge of Covid-19 -patients.