A day after the announcement of three private hospitals being cleared for testing samples of suspected Covid-19 samples, the government has said it is going to give conditional approval to a few more private hospitals soon.
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Additional Director General (Administration) Prof Nasima Sultana came up with the announcement during a daily online bulletin on the coronavirus situation from Dhaka in on Thursday afternoon.
“Labaid Specialized Hospital and Ibn Sina Medical College Hospital in Dhaka as well as TMSS Medical College and Rafatullah Community Hospital in Bogra have already sought permission to run the tests,” she said.
Those will be given approval in a day or two, she said, adding: “Any private hospital which fulfils out conditions, including that for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) lab, will be cleared for the tests like those already approved.”
Three private hospitals in Dhaka -- Evercare Hospitals Ltd (formerly Apollo Hospitals), Square Hospitals Ltd and United Hospitals Ltd -- on Wednesday were permitted to conduct testing for Covid-19.
The same day, the country’s first private coronavirus testing laboratory, funded by Textiles and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi, was inaugurated at Rupganj upazila of Narayanganj, one of the worst-affected areas in Bangladesh.
During the online bulletin, the DGHS official said they received information of tests conducted at Evercare Hospitals Ltd, not at Square Hospitals Ltd. She, however, did not mention anything about United Hospitals Ltd.
Bangladesh confirmed 168 deaths and 7,667 cases of Covid-19 on Thursday.
The fast spreading coronavirus, which was first reported in China’s Wuhan, has claimed more than 228,370 lives and infected more than 3,229,810 people globally, according to Worldometer.
As many as 1,006,988 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 210 countries and territories across the planet.
