Hotspot Khulna gasps for oxygen
EMPTY oxygen cylinders are piling up almost as fast as bodies in the city of Khulna, which has become Bangladesh’s coronavirus hotspot in a dire new surge.
Last Thursday (1), Khulna city recorded 46 virus deaths, according to an official count, while in earlier waves the daily death toll never went into double figures. Most people in the city of 680,000 people say the real toll is much higher and, according to reports, graveyards cannot cope with the number of dead in nearby cities such as Satkhira.
The main state-run Khulna general hospital is one of four in the city treating coronavirus patients. “We have been dealing with enormous admission pressure in hospitals,” said Niaz Muhammad, chief government doctor for the Khulna region. He denied there was an oxygen shortage.
However, Mohammad Siddik tearfully told relatives in phone calls that his 50-yearold brother had died. The 42-year-old businessman brought his brother to hospital as his condition deteriorated. But there was no bed and no oxygen, he said.
Another grieving relative also told how her brother had died without oxygen. Afroza, who used only one name, shed tears in a hospital ward.
“If only they could have given a little oxygen to my brother, he would still be alive,” she said.
Mohammad Babu, who
re works in a Khulna cemetery, said he has never been so busy in his 32 years digging graves. “The number of burials this year is much higher than at any time in the past,” he said.
Health officials blame the surge on people’s refusal to wear masks or keep social distance. “People cannot be bothered to isolate,” said Suhas Halder, spokesperson for Khulna’s main coronavirus hospital.
In Khulna, factories are still open and people say they are forced to go out to work.