ZCZC
BSS-61
ROHINGYA-COVID-19-HOSPITAL
200-bed COVID-19 treatment centre opens for Rohingyas, host community
DHAKA, Aug 31, 2020 (BSS) – UNICEF in partnership with icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) has opened a 200-bed isolation and treatment centre at Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar to provide critical care for COVID-19 patients from both Bangladeshi communities and forcefully displaced Rohingyas.
It will operate 24 hours a day and will be served by over 300 highly trained and dedicated frontline workers, including doctors, nurses, patient care attendants, laboratory technicians, pharmacists and cleaners.
The Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Isolation and Treatment Centre (SARI ITC) will be managed by icddr,b in partnership with UNICEF with the financial support from Australia, Germany, Sweden, the UK, the USA, the European Union and the World Bank, a press release said here today.
“UNICEF works closely with the Bangladesh government and development partners to respond to this unprecedented challenge at both the national and sub-national levels,” said Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Country Representative in Bangladesh.
UNICEF is working with the Bangladesh health ministry to help strengthen the infection prevention and control, case management and data system-related issues concerning the COVID-19, among others.
In addition, UNICEF is procuring critical medical equipment and supplies to support the prevention and the treatment of COVID-19 nationally as well as for those living in Cox’s Bazar, said the release.
The treatment centre will provide COVID-19 diagnosis and clinical care including oxygen therapy for severely ill patients from both Bangladeshi and Rohingya communities in Teknaf Upazila.
BSS/PR/TA/ARS/2110 hrs