Bangladesh to launch first COVID-19 ICU for Rohingya

DHAKA, Bangladesh

Bangladesh is set to launch an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for Rohingya refugees and residents in the southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar for the first time, according to an official late Friday.

“My dream comes to true as the authorities will open a 10-bed ICU and 10-bed HDU [High Dependency Units] in Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital tomorrow,” Dr. Abu Toha MR Bhuiyan, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner's (RRRC) chief health coordinator, told Anadolu Agency about the effort at the main government hospital in the region.

With financial support from the UN aid agency, UNHCR, the development is progress, he said. “As a result of it both the persecuted Rohingya people as well as locals will benefit during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.”

As many as 44 Rohingya refugees have been infected by the lethal virus, as of Saturday, with four deaths, according to RRRC records.

Bangladesh, home to more than 1 million persecuted Rohingya refugees, has implemented a mega health project to stem the spread of the pandemic in squalid Rohingya makeshift camps.

- 1,900 isolation beds by June

“Under our ongoing mega projects we are working to extend the isolation beds for coronavirus-infected patients to 1,900 in Cox’s Bazar for both Rohingya and locals by this month,” head of RRRC, Md. Mahbub Alam Talukder, told Anadolu Agency.

He said there are nearly 350 isolation beds in Cox’s Bazar.

Meanwhile, authorities will launch Sunday a 60-bed Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Isolation and Treatment Centers (SARI ITCs) COVID-19 Hospital in Cox’s Bazar.

“International Rescue Committee (IRC) has funded the project,” said Bhuiyan, adding that another 50-bed “HOPE COVID Isolation Center” for pregnant Rohingya women will be launched Monday in refugee camp number 4.

Citing refugee safety amid the pandemic as the government’s priority, he said a 250-bed modern hospital in Tekhnaf, Cox’s Bazar is under construction for Rohingya and the host community.

The overcrowded south Asian country of more than 165 million people has recorded 1,425 deaths and 108,775 infections since the first COVID-19 case was reported March 8.

A total of 103 court staff, including 20 judges were infected by the novel coronavirus as of Saturday, according to local media reports.