Coordination among private and public initiatives is crucial
As more and more people are testing positive with COVID-19 every day, with the actual number of people infected still unknown to us, fear has gripped the nation. People are worried for all the right reasons—the government still does not have any comprehensive plan to tackle the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the country, our hospitals do not have the capacity or approval to test and treat patients infected with the disease, we do not have the required amount of test kits, our doctors and medical staff have not been provided with enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to treat the suspected COVID-19 patients, and self-isolation or home-quarantine measures have not been found to be successful. However, amid the growing public concern over the government’s sloppy preparations to contain the spread of the COVID-19 in the country, initiatives taken by some voluntary and private organisations have offered us a ray of hope.
One of the most encouraging news for us this time has been the testing kit developed by scientists of Gonoshasthaya Kendra. Globally, it has been proved that testing as many suspected cases as possible is the number one thing to do to contain the spread of the virus, apart from quarantine measures and lockdowns. Thus, in order to make testing accessible to all, the government needs to provide Gonoshasthaya all the support it needs to produce the testing kits on a massive scale.
Besides, we have come across some individual and organisational efforts to help the mass people deal with the corona crisis. Amid huge PPE crisis in our hospitals, some private organisations, including Buet alumni association and some garment industries have started producing them, to be distributed among doctors, nurses and medical staff free of cost. It is good to know that the PPEs produced by them have already got the health ministry’s approval.
Initiatives taken by Bidyananda Foundation, a voluntary organisation, are underway to fight the spread of the virus. They have been distributing masks and hand sanitisers among people for free and have already set up hand washing facilities in different points of the city. Then there are some student organisations, including Chhatra Union, whose members themselves have been making hand sanitisers and distributing them among the rickshaw-pullers and other vulnerable groups of society. Moreover, many private organisations and hospitals, who are now fully prepared to test patients for COVID-19, are just waiting for the government’s approval.
As we have always witnessed, during any national crisis, it is the general people and the private organisations who always show us the way out. And it is no different this time. But all these private initiatives need to be coordinated to have a greater impact and that responsibility falls on the government. We hope the government would be proactive in coordinating among all the private and public initiatives and make a collective plan to fight the pandemic.
