As coronavirus cases rise in Bangladesh, its government is struggling to keep the front-line healthcare workers free from infection, which has further strained the healthcare facilities in the region. As per the Bangladesh Doctors Foundation (BDF), at least 251 doctors had tested positive for coronavirus by Thursday, as the organization blamed a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and patient infections for the epidemic among doctors. In the capital, Dhaka, nearly 200 doctors became sick. So far, 3,772 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Bangladesh, with 120 deaths reported.

Health staff have often complained about the price that they receive from PPE.

Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research at the Bangladesh government, admitted that there was a shortage of the PPE “price.”

As PPE demands increased, some ready-made garment (RMG) factories started producing it. After China, Bangladesh is the second-largest exporter of RMG. A Business Standard report, however, said that RMG factories could only manufacture chemical-resistant PPE and don’t have a dust-free and medical-grade environment for medical-grade equipment development.

When detect with coronavirus, the 251 Doctors quarantine the ward of the hospital where they operate. It closes for safety measures. Critical care units and general wards of as many as 11 hospitals throughout Bangladesh closing down after they become contaminate, according to the BDF results.

Hospitals Avoid Treating COVID-19 Patients

Bangladesh’s number of doctors per 1,000 people in 2017. It was 0.5-one of the lowest in the world according to development metrics from the World Bank. Another issue facing healthcare staff in Bangladesh is that patients disguise their medical symptoms. Also, related facts in order to escape stigma, social isolation or quarantine. Most people believe their homes shut down if they infect. Also, family members handle in a derogatory manner.

In addition, the approve hospitals packing to their ability to treat coronavirus cases. It is causing people with coronavirus-like symptoms to rush to public and private hospitals. Since some hospitals do not treat patients with COVID-19, people seek to get treatment by avoiding their symptoms there.

Faisal Islam Fahim is a senior officer at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Barisal District Hospital. He told Al Jazeera about 150 of his hospital’s doctors. Doctors into quarantine after two of them in sick. To stop quarantine, the two doctors had treated a male patient who hid his symptoms.

A similar incident occurred at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, which principal, Khan Abul Kalam Azad, told Al Jazeera. Also, her coronavirus symptoms conceal by a female patient admitted there.

Azad continued that after a COVID-19 patient concealed details. Also, another doctor at Suhrawardy Hospital in the capital also tested the positive.