Professor Dr A B M Kh-urshid Alam, Director Ge-neral (DG) of the Direc-torate General of Health Services (DGHS), said villages accounted for around 90 per cent of the hospitalised Covid-19 patients.
But majority people of the remote areas did not take coronavirus vaccines, he added.
The DGHS chief made the remarks while speaking as the special guest at the inaugural function of the annual conference of the Public Health Association of Bangladesh on Friday.
The DGHS DG said he recently visited various hospitals in several districts outside Dhaka, and found the scenario.
"I think many villagers are not aware of the fact that upazila health complexes have 10 beds with oxygen supply. That's why, they are crowding at big hospitals in districts and major cities."
Dr Alam noted that the rate of fatalities among the villagers was quite high, as majority of the people there did not take the coronavirus antidotes.
"And villagers come to the hospitals late. These are the key reasons behind the high death rate."
Terming ensuring healthcare facilities in the remote areas a challenge, the DGHS chief noted that they were slowly overcoming various hindrances, like shortage of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals.
"Now, we're installing central oxygen plants even in upazila health complexes."
About the recent allegations of selling coronavirus jabs illegally, he said tough actions would be taken, if anyone of the DGHS found involved in such act.
The Covid-19 pandemic has so far claimed 26,432 lives and infected 1,510,283 people in Bangladesh.
The health authorities have so far administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccines to around 18.67 million people in the country. Of them, some 8.2 million have received both doses.
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