TIB: Over half of district hospitals lack necessary equipment

According to the government the country has 550 Intensive Care Units, and 480 ventilators for COVID-19 patents, but most of them are capital Dhaka-centric, the survey report said, reports UNB.
A lack of good governance caused widespread irregularities in Covid-19 testing, medical management, relief activities, procurement, and supply, according to the TIB study.

The report was prepared analysing pandemic's data from 15 June to 15 October, the study titled "Governance Challenges in Tackling Coronavirus (Part 2)" that was presented in a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

Although 89.1 percent positions of nurses are vacant, in the past three months 56.8 percent doctors' positions and 48.5 percent nurses were not appointed at the hospitals, it said.

The survey also found that there was a tendency to hide irregularities, corruption and mismanagement by imposing restrictions in disclosure of information.

TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said, "There is a lack of good governance in steps taken to control the pandemic."

The government was more concerned over controlling flow of information than checking corruption, he said.

TF