Bangladesh has increased the number of hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients but more than two-thirds of the hospital beds are now lying empty even as the caseload continues to climb, reports bdnews24.com.
Many patients have shunned hospitals due to worries about the standard of care at the facilities.
According to hospital officials, low severity of the disease is the reason behind the low turnout at hospitals as many patients are receiving treatment at home.
However, health experts have pointed at mismanagement that was rife in the health sector at the onset of the coronavirus outbreak for patients' reluctance to seek treatment at hospitals.
Doctors, meanwhile, have warned the tendency among critically-ill patients to avoid hospitals can put their lives at risk.
After the first cases of the coronavirus were detected on March 08, patients would be eager to get admitted to hospitals even if the symptoms were mild. Kurmitola General Hospital and Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital in Dhaka were initially designated for coronavirus treatment.
Later, as the number of patients continued to increase, 16 more government and private hospitals in the capital were dedicated to the treatment of COVID-19 cases.
Eight public and private hospitals were also assigned for coronavirus treatment in Chattogram. Later, the health ministry directed all government hospitals in the country to open separate units for treatment of COVID-19 patients alongside other patients.
With the number of infections approaching 200,000, the health directorate has estimated that 70.99 per cent hospital beds across the country are empty. At one time, there was a high demand for ICU beds but now 43.85 per cent of those beds are unused.
According to a notice issued by the health directorate on Sunday, as many as 10,041 of 14,668 beds set aside for coronavirus patients in designated hospitals were not being used.
On the other hand, 164 of 374 ICU beds are lying vacant, it said.
Tareq Aziz, a resident of Dhaka's Dhanmondi, contracted the virus in May.
He initially planned to get admitted to a hospital but later changed his mind considering the situation at health facilities.
"I was scared. Reports of mismanagement in hospitals appeared in the media every day. The doctors tasked with providing treatment did not even have PPEs," Tareq told the news agency.
Seven to eight patients were dying in the hospital wards everyday and there was no-one to move their bodies, said Mr Tareq.
"I started my own treatment at home under the circumstances. I tested negative for the virus later on."
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