DHAKA (UCAN): As the Covid-19 [SARS-CoV-2] situation worsens in Bangladesh, the country’s tiny Catholic community has been playing a vital role in battling the outbreak with medical and aid services despite limited resources.
St. John Vianney Hospital in Tejgaon, central Dhaka, which started operating on 11 November 2019, has served thousands of Covid-19 patients since the coronavirus hit the country in March last year. Some 700 patients have received treatment through hospitalisation.
Hospital director, Father Kamal Corraya, said the hospital’s 20 beds have been reserved for Covid-19 patients.
“We have a central oxygen facility for 20 patients but have yet to arrange an ICU for the patients as it is expensive. We realise the ICU is very urgent for us,” Father Corraya said.
As the Covid-19 situations keeps worsening, with many patients failing to get treatment, the hospital decided to treat as many as possible with minimum costs, the priest said.
“When we get any critical patients, we refer them to other hospitals where they can get an ICU facility. In maximum cases, we succeed in arranging ICU beds through our connections in various hospitals. Our biggest obstacle is that our health workers are being affected, so we have to hire new staff and spend a lot of money to treat them,” Fatehr Corraya added.
Meanwhile, the Association of Catholic Doctors of Bangladesh has been providing telemedicine services free of charge.
“In fact, it is risky to go to hospital because of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have launched this telemedicine service so that anyone can get the service from home for any kind of illness while they struggle for transport,” Dr. Edward Pallab Rozario, president of the association, explained.
In addition, Caritas Bangladesh’s eight regional offices have reached out to vulnerable people whose livelihoods have been seriously impacted.
As of June, Caritas mobilised around US$4.55 million [$35.4 million] in funding for Covid-19 emergency interventions, according to James Gomes, director (programmes) at Caritas Bangladesh.
