Short of oxygen, 7 die in Bogura over 13 hours

At least seven Covid-19 patients died on Friday in 13 hours, due to lack of oxygen in Mohammad Ali Hospital of Bogura.

Relatives of the deceased say the patients died because they did not get adequate oxygen support due to shortage of oxygen providing equipment like high-flow nasal cannulas.

Currently, 20-25 more people in critical condition are under treatment at the hospital, hospital sources said.

Mohammad Ali Hospital has only two high-flow nasal cannulas and two more were allocated but have yet to begin operation.

The hospital authorities are struggling to provide proper and needed service due to lack of equipment needed.

Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital also recorded six more fatalities in its Covid ward in the past 24 hours.

With the fresh counts, 13 patients have lost their lives to the deadly virus so far at these two hospitals.

Khulna division is also clamouring for oxygen, a key component in saving the lives of critical patients.

While a few hospitals in Khulna division have already run out of the life-saving gas, many other medical facilities are operating on the edge with an acute shortage of oxygen.

In the past week, seven Covid-19 patients unable to breathe, have died at Satkhira Medical College Hospital due to the unavailability of oxygen. 

In Khulna Medical Hospital which has a 130 bed capacity, nearly 190 patients have been admitted to the hospital in the last few days.
The hospital has only 77 centralised oxygen beds, making other critical patients dependent on cylinders sourced from outside.

Though the hospital authorities claim they have 500 cylinders in stock, relatives of critical Covid patients are struggling to get hold of portable cylinders.

According to oxygen suppliers, in Khulna city alone, the daily demand for oxygen is 700 cylinders at present, where they are only able to supply 410.

The single-day coronavirus death toll in Khulna division reached a new high with 46 people succumbing to the virus on Thursday.

In May this year, amid growing worries about a steady supply of the lifesaving element, Health Minister Zahid Maleque assured the people of the country there would not be any shortage of oxygen unless the situation worsened dramatically.

His clarification came at a time when India, struggling with an acute oxygen crisis, stopped exporting it to Bangladesh.

"We don't import oxygen from India all year long. We needed to import oxygen from India during a huge upsurge in Covid cases, but if the situation remains stable, there'll be no shortage of oxygen in the country," he told UNB.

Maleque said Bangladesh is not that dependent on liquid oxygen. "In fact, we rely more on oxygen gas. So, even if we face a shortage of liquid oxygen, it won't be a big deal," he added.

Covid-19 spike in Bangladesh

As the Covid-19 situation continues to escalate, the country reported over 100 deaths from the virus for the sixth day in a row with 132 more fatalities reported in the last 24 hours ending at 8am Friday. 

Besides, the number of daily infections also remained high as 8,483 more people contracted the virus during the same period. 

Also, the positivity rate peaked at 28.27%, the highest in the last several months, according to the Covid-19 bulletin issued by the Directorate General of Health Services.

With today's additions, the death toll reached 14,778 and the case tally increased to 9,30,042 in the country. Meanwhile, the death rate was recorded at 1.59%.

 
India's battle with oxygen shortage

Over the past few months, due to a shortage of oxygen, neighboring  India's healthcare system has been swamped. The country has seen patients dying in ambulances and parking lots outside hospitals, its  crematoriums overwhelmed.   

India is drained of medical oxygen supplies, vital for treating severely affected Covid-19 patients. The dire shortage has turned out to be a major challenge facing hospitals in many states across the country.

Dozens of hospitals in a number of Indian cities and towns have run short of the gas, sending relatives of patients scrambling for oxygen and oxygen cylinders, sometimes in vain.