PPEs not essential for doctors, nurses, claims health minister

Health minister Zahid Maleque on Monday claimed that personal protection equipment was not essential for the healthcare providers of COVID-19 patients in Bangladesh.

He made the comment at a press conference at the secretariat at a time when the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research also disclosed for the first time that a doctor and two nurses were infected with Covid-19.

Doctors and nurses in the capital and other parts of the country are reportedly denying treatment to patients with symptoms of fever, coughing, sneezing and breathing difficulty as they are not provided with the PPEs.

Arguing for his stance against the essentiality of PPEs in the country, the health minister said, ‘When the novel coronavirus spread in China in December, the doctors there did not have PPEs.’ ‘The PPEs are not that essential for us,’ he said.

Zahid, however, claimed that the government was prepared to face the spread of coronavirus.

‘We took preparations to set up labs three months ago,’ he said.

He added, ‘As we were prepared, we have managed to take 20,000 people in home quarantine.’

He further claimed, ‘Now we have PPE more than required.’

The minister said the government had now stock of 1 lakh coronavirus testing kits as 50,000 new kits arrived recently.

Besides, he said, the government was building more coronavirus testing labs as additional measures within a week.

‘It will require another 10-12 days to prepare fully to fight coronavirus,’ he said.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net