Bangladesh's private hospitals to raise Covid-19 beds by 1,000

Private sector healthcare providers on Wednesday assured the government of arranging around 1,000 dedicated beds for treating Covid-19 patients amid the continuous surge in the number of coronavirus cases in the country.

The assurance came following a request of Health Minister Zahid Maleque.

"I request you (private hospitals) to increase the number of your beds by 1,000-1,500 as you have that capacity to do so," said the minister during a virtual meeting with the Bangladesh Private Medical College Association (BPMCA).

The meeting was organised to discuss how to jointly tackle the deteriorating Covid-19 situation in the country.

The minister told the meeting that the government had already decided to increase 2,500 new beds for the Covid-19 patients.

With this, the total number of additional beds - both under government and private arrangements - would reach 4,000.

Zahid Maleque said the transmission rate had increased dramatically over the last 20 days and the mortality rate was alarming.

There is no bed empty at the hospitals, both public and private - it is a difficult situation, he said.

"I have instructed even the NICVD (National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases) to provide beds to Covid-19 patients what we usually do not allow. We are trying to raise the number of beds at public hospitals by 2,500," he said.

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