ED: Don’t let the wheels come off the health sector

After the surprising uptick in Covid-19 cases at the beginning of this year -- the death tally also skyrocketed, breaking all previous records -- it was perhaps inevitable that we would reach a point where our hospitals simply will not be able to cope with the demands of the increasing number of patients.

According to Health Minister Zahid Maleque himself, hospitals are now overcrowded with Covid-19 patients, with “not a single” ICU bed empty nationwide.

There have been reports and stories of people failing to receive necessary critical stage treatment before, but now the problem is nationwide, which means that every single day there will be more and more patients who need treatment that they simply will not get access to.

One can only imagine the numbers we may see in the upcoming days if nothing is done to solve this problem with the utmost urgency.

As such, the government must prioritize the health care sector and increase its capacity to treat the people of this nation.

At this point in time, one wonders why the national budget for this year lacked any significant increase in allocation for health care -- it has always been woefully low -- and why funds which had been allocated specifically for Covid-19 were devoid of any clear direction on how they should be utilized.

In this context, the logic behind the health minister’s claim that “it’s pointless to expand the capacity of hospitals” if infection rates are not lowered is hardly sound.

Every Bangladeshi deserves to be treated. And it is about time that the health care sector was given the right resources to ensure that our citizens were given adequate medical care.