Tale of a suspected coronavirus patient
Patient with Covid-19 symptoms asks whether he deserves the minimum of treatment as a Bangladeshi citizen
After being rejected by Lalmai Upazila Health Complex – and three other hospitals in the capital – a Cumilla youth finally managed to be admitted to the Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital on Friday.
From a ward of the hospital – for those with coronavirus (Covid-19) symptoms – he talked to The Business Standard over the phone. He said that doctors have collected medical samples to check whether he is Covid-19-positive.
Hailing from Cumilla's Lalmai, the 30-year-old youth told The Business Standard that he had neither set foot outside this country nor come in contact with any Bangladesh returnees from abroad.
The youth claimed that he self-isolated from his family members when he developed throat pain and a cough on Wednesday — common symptoms of coronavirus. He appeared at the local upazila health complex Thursday with fever and diarrhoea.
The health complex's doctors advised him to stay home. However, the young man came to the capital by ambulance on Friday at dawn.
He went to the Institute of Public Health Nutrition and International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh — both located in the Mohakhali area in Dhaka.
He went to the Directorate General of Health Services as both the institutions refused to admit him. After failing to reach the Directorate General of Health Services, as it was Friday, he rushed to Kurmitola General Hospital.
Doctors at the hospital advised him to go home after prescribing him some medicine. However, he was desperate to be admitted and moved to the Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital in Dhaka's Uttara.
The on-duty guards stopped him at the entrance after noting down his mobile phone number. He was told to wait. Later the doctors contacted him to take the history of his ailment.
He was taken inside after 10:30 am to a ward on the third floor of the hospital and someone collected his medical samples in the afternoon.
The Cumilla youth said he was the only patient in the eight-bed ward and was waiting for his results. He also told The Business Standard that doctors and nurses were regularly checking up on him.
The youth said he works for a private firm and got coronavirus updates by TV reports and newspapers.
He said the environment of the Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Hospital was better compared to other hospitals. The frontline medical personnel were in protective suits.
"They are in suits as I saw them on the television news," he said.
The young man, however, was a bit upset as the hospitals primarily refused him to admit him.
He said, "I know I am young and would not suffer because of coronavirus, but do I not deserve the minimum of treatment as a Bangladeshi citizen?"