324 doctors get virus infected in Bangladesh: BDF

Health workers treat a patient

Health workers treat a patient
AFP

The highly contagious coronavirus, which has spread to 60 districts of the country, has infected 324 physicians both at private and government hospitals as of Saturday, said Bangladesh Doctors Foundation (BDF), a forum of physicians.

“Among the infected doctors, 255 are in Dhaka division alone,” said Nirupam Das, the chief administrator of the foundation, reports news agency UNB.

Of the total infected physicians, 163 are from different government hospitals, 76 from private hospitals while 20 were shown in other category in the BDF data.

The data showed that 26 doctors were infected in Mymensingh division and all of them are from government hospitals while 12 doctors — 11 from government and one from a private hospital — were in Chattogram division.

Meanwhile, seven doctors in Khulna division, eight in Barishal, two in Sylhet and three in Rangpur division have so far been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Asked about the safety of doctors while treating COVID-19 patients, Nirupam said there is no alternative to personal protective equipment (PPE), quality gowns, masks, gloves and goggles for their safety.

As of Saturday, Bangladesh confirmed 140 deaths and 4,998 coronavirus cases.

Additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) professor Nasima Sultana in the daily health bulletin on Saturday informed that coronavirus has spread to 60 districts in the country except Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Jhenaidah and Satkhira.