Bangladesh fears a coronavirus crisis as case numbers rise

As hospitals in Bangladesh turn patients away, and frontline workers bear the brunt of rising case numbers, there are fears the densely populated South Asian country could become a new global hotspot.

For years, Vernon Anthony Paul served in the Pakistan air force. He fought in the Bangladesh war of independence in 1971 and was held as a prisoner of war.

The 75 year old died on a Wednesday evening in May 2020, when the coronavirus isolation unit he was being treated at in Dhaka burnt to the ground.

"He used to tell stories of how they dug their own trenches during the war. Even the bombs couldn't kill my dad," said his son, Andre Dominic Paul. "But the carelessness of our own people in Bangladesh killed my father."

In the days before his death, Vernon Anthony Paul reported severe breathing problems but tested negative for Covid-19. It's thought he had pneumonia. He was turned away from the ICU unit of a hospital because it was full.

His family took him to the private United Hospital in the city, but were told he couldn't be admitted to the ICU unless he was tested again by them, to be sure he didn't have Covid-19. Stigma and fear around the virus has seen some patients in Bangladesh denied proper treatment.

Andre said his father was offered a bed in the makeshift coronavirus isolation unit, built on a badminton court in the hospital grounds, until his test results came. "We tried to say, why would you put him there with other Covid patients?" his son recalled.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was among those to pay tribute to Dr Uddin. "This noble-hearted physician gave treatment to the people taking risk of his own life," she said.

There was anger on social media that his own hospital had not treated him. A spokesman told a newspaper in Dhaka that it was a general hospital that lacked facilities to treat Covid patients.

Mr Ahmed, a leading epidemiologist in Dhaka who works for Johns Hopkins and Edinburgh universities, said his friend's death illustrated the need to increase hospital capacity and train more medical staff as case numbers rise.

"He was in the middle of his career and we lost him. It was a huge impact for all of us," he said

At least 34 doctors have died of Covid-19 in Bangladesh, and as many as 1,180 have reportedly been infected.

By Al- Helalee