Pvt hospitals too costly for Covid treatment: TIB

Private hospitals charge up to Tk five lakh on an average for treatment of a corona patient as low-come middle class people are forced to go there due to shortage of ICU facilities in government hospitals.

This was revealed by a recent study of anti-graft watchdog Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) titled "Tackling Coronavirus Pandemic: Governance Challenges in COVID-19 Vaccine Management.”

"A large number of the population, mostly the middle class, has been forced to seek treatment at private hospitals due to lack of facilities in dedicated government Covid-19 hospitals," TIB Deputy Programme Manager Md Julkarnayeen said while presenting the results of the study on Tuesday.

Besides, the research sheds light on the fact that the rate of inclusion of low-income, rural and impoverished people has been very low in the vaccination drive largely due to lack of publicity and complicated registration process.

The study found that around 43% of the vaccinated population have faced problems in registering.

The inclusion of women under the vaccination drive was 37%, the study said.

The TIB report said that irresponsibility and lack of coordination between government bodies have caused sufferings to expatriates returning to overseas work. They have to spend an additional Tk 60,000-70,000 each for not having a vaccination certificate.