Giving guidelines not enough: More vulnerable countries need tools and training
Getting nod from Chinese authority, some 341 Bangladeshis stranded in the Coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan were scheduled to return Dhaka in a special flight on Friday midnight. Bangladesh government has planned to keep the returnees at a makeshift hospital in the city’s Ashkona hajj camp for 14 days for observation. As per the plan, Ashkona is the primary option. If needed, the Kuwait-Bangladesh Friendship Hospital will be prepared for the patients. China earlier had informed Bangladesh that it won’t allow the Bangladeshis to leave before February 6, when two weeks of quarantine expires. And it will bear the expenditure of treatment, if anyone is affected.
Meanwhile, the new Coronavirus has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China. “The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. WHO thinks it could spread to countries with weaker health systems. Hubei is where the virus emerged and at least 213 people so far have died with almost 10,000 cases nationally. The WHO chief however praised the “extraordinary measures” Chinese authorities had taken. We also appreciate the role of the WHO for prescribing the course of action for different countries to prevent the deadly virus. What are the guidelines for a country like Bangladesh where health sector is too weak and easy to claim full preparation when there is actually no preparation?
Only keeping 341 people, including children and women, in quarantine cannot be a method of treatment. We think there is also a need of medicines, medical apparatus and other preventive tools to fight the new virus. Though the health minister has claimed that they are fully prepared to face the situation, the people of the country know it very well that the relevant ministry is never been prepared. We failed to prevent outbreak of dengue only for lack of preparedness of authorities concerned. Declaring worldwide emergency about the danger of coronavirus means very little help to resourceless and more vulnerable countries.
Coronavirus is strangely new killing disease and many countries do not have the tools or resources to deal with such life threatening disease. We would urge the WHO officials to take effective measures other than sending guidelines. There are incompetent countries where full preparation for a threat of an unknown dangerous disease means no preparation.
Only keeping 341 people, including children and women, in quarantine cannot be a method of treatment. We think there is also a need of medicines, medical apparatus and other preventive tools to fight the new virus. Though the health minister has claimed that they are fully prepared to face the situation, the people of the country know it very well that the relevant ministry is never been prepared. We failed to prevent outbreak of dengue only for lack of preparedness of authorities concerned. Declaring worldwide emergency about the danger of coronavirus means very little help to resourceless and more vulnerable countries.
Coronavirus is strangely new killing disease and many countries do not have the tools or resources to deal with such life threatening disease. We would urge the WHO officials to take effective measures other than sending guidelines. There are incompetent countries where full preparation for a threat of an unknown dangerous disease means no preparation.
