Zahid Maleque
Vaccination with Astrazeneca jabs in Bangladesh to resume within days
Bangladesh will resume vaccination with Astrazeneca shots within the next few days, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque.
“We’ll resume vaccination with Astrazeneca jabs within the next 2-1 days. Those who failed to take the second dose after getting the first one will be able to get it now,” he said.
The minister said this while speaking to reporters at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after receiving the second consignment of AstraZeneca vaccine doses from Japan.
He said the government currently has a stock of more than 10 lakh doses of Astrazeneca vaccine.
Read: Covid kills 218 more in Bangladesh as its catastrophe continues
“We’ll get 6 lakh doses more of the vaccine on Aug 3,” Zahid added.
Bangladesh plans to vaccinate 1 crore people each month: Health Minister
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday said the government has planned to bring some 1 crore people under its vaccination programme each month using 21 crore vaccine doses to be collected from different sources.
The minister said this while talking to reporters after visiting a field hospital at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
“There’s no alternative to vaccination to prevent the Covid-19 transmission,” he said, reminding all of a looming crisis of hospital beds as Covid cases keep rising.
READ: Dhaka to receive 30 lakh more Sinopharm jabs this month, says health minister
Seventy-five percent of the very recent patients admitted to different hospitals in Dhaka are holidaymakers who have returned from villages after Eid, said the minister.
“The number of Covid cases has increased by five to six times more following the Eid travelling,” he said.
The minister said the BSMMU field hospital opened for treating Covid patients with 1,000 beds, including 200 ICU and HDU ones, will start operation on Saturday next.
The increasing number of Dengue patients at hospitals is creating a new kind of crisis amid the risk of Covid transmission, said Zahid Maleque.
READ: All adults to be gradually vaccinated: Health Minister
He said the government is planning to designate hospitals for Dengue treatment considering the sensitivity of the situation.
Bangladesh to get 21 crore vaccine doses early next year: Minister
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday said the government will receive around 21 crore doses of Covid vaccines early next year to bring the country’s 80 percent population under the vaccination coverage.
“Now Bangladesh's most important task is to collect vaccines. The government has now over one crore doses of vaccines in its stock, while it’ll get two more crore doses by next month,” he said.
Speaking at a virtual discussion arranged by Bangladesh Private Medical College Association (BPMCA), the minister said, “The government will receive about 21 crore doses of vaccines, including three crore doses from China, seven crore each from Russia and Johnson & Johnson, and three crore from AstraZeneca early next year. We hope the government will be able to vaccinate at least 80 percent of the country’s population with these vaccine jabs.”
He said all the citizens above 18 years of age will be vaccinated from now on to keep the country's educational institutions functional and bring most citizens under the mass vaccination drive.
Read: Bangladesh to go for Covid vaccine coproduction soon: FM
The minister said they have already asked the ICT Division to take steps so that people above 18 years of age can register for vaccination through the government-approved "Surokkha" app.
Over four percent of the country's population has so far been vaccinated since the government launched the mass vaccination programme on February 7 last by administering Covishield.
All adults to be gradually vaccinated: Health Minister
Expanding the vaccine eligibility target, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday said everyone above 18 years will gradually be vaccinated in Bangladesh.
“Arrangements are being made to gradually bring all citizens above 18 years under the Covid-19 vaccination programme in order to revive the country's education system,” he said.
Zahid Maleque came up with the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a progamme on Covid-19 ICU Bed Expansion and inauguration of Outpatient Department of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).
Also read: 35-years-olds to be made eligible for Covid jabs: DGHS DG
“At present, the government has 45 lakh doses of vaccines in stock. We’ll receive 29 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine very soon. Besides, Pfizer vaccine doses will reach the country within the next month,” he added.
1200-bed Covid dedicated hospital to be set up in BSMMU
The government will establish a 1200-bed coronavirus dedicated hospital in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University to fight the soaring virus, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday.
With over 400 ICU beds and more than 400 ICU equivalent HDO’s, this will be the most modern Covid-19 hospital in the country, said Zahid after visiting BSMMU convention centre.
He said this convention centre was chosen for the proposed Covid facility after inspecting buildings across the city following the prime minister’s direction to increase the number of beds in hospitals across the country.
Also read: Country's largest Covid-19 dedicated hospital opened in Dhaka
The government is trying to expedite the opening of the hospital by incorporating the oxygen supply facility as soon as possible, said the minister.
As 80% of the hospital beds across the country are occupied with patients there is no other option left but to increase the number of beds, he said.
Also read: Govt stops corona treatment at 3 dedicated hospitals
In the last 10 days at least 90,000 more people were infected with Covid-19 so more manpower is needed in the health service system too, he added.
BSMMU Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr Sharfuddin Ahmed said, the Covid dedicated hospital will be set up at the fifth floor of the convention hall and it will be named after Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib.
Bangladesh to receive 60 lakh more Pfizer vaccine doses in Aug: Minister
Bangladesh will receive 60 lakh more doses of Pfizer vaccine from COVAX facility by early August, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday.
The minister said this while talking to reporters after visiting a field hospital at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical College convention centre.
Read: Bangladesh rolls out Pfizer vaccine at 3 Dhaka centers
Minister Maleque said the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed the vaccine delivery information on Friday through a letter.
“By the end of July or in the beginning of August, we’ll receive 50 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine from China, too,” Zahid Maleque added.
“We’re hopeful of having 1 to 1.5 crore doses of vaccines in our stock within one and a half months. More vaccines will be coming in August,” he said.
Read: Pfizer, Sinopharm shots to start June 19: Health Minister
The minister urged everyone to show compassion to doctors and health workers who are in the frontline in the fight against Covid-19 serving patients round the clock, and many of them have lost their lives, too.
Read: Registered people will get Pfizer vaccine first, says health minister
Opposition MPs call Health Minister “shameless” over health sector “failures”
Terming Health Minister Zahid Maleque a "shameless man" for his “failure, widespread corruption in the health sector and mismanagement in coronavirus treatment, opposition MPs of Jatiya Party and BNP on Saturday demanded his immediate resignation.
They sharply criticized the health minister in Parliament for his failure to ensure oxygen in different hospitals for Covid-19 patients as many died in Satkhira and Bogura districts.
The health minister was not there in the House but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was present at the time.
BNP MP Gulam Mohammad Siraj from Bogura-6 first launched the blistering attack on the health minister while speaking on a point of order.
He alleged that around 24 Covid-19 patients died in the last two days in Bogura for lack of oxygen.
The BP MP said Mohammad Ali Hospital in Bogra is a dedicated hospital to Covid-19 treatment but there are only eight ICU beds there and only two high-flow nasal cannula oxygen facilities. “As a result, the rest of the ICU beds are useless.”
Also read: Corruption in health sector widespread: GM Quader
He also said 450 beds in 3 hospitals in Bogra are overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients leaving no scope for the hospitalization of new patients.
Gulam Mohammad demanded immediate supply of 20 high-flow oxygen to every hospital.
Jatiya Party Chairman and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in parliament GM Quader, in his winding-up speech, pointed out widespread mismanagement in the health sector, including the health ministry.
He said the health ministry is still there where it was a year ago. “There has been no improvement.”
2 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine to reach Dhaka soon
Commercially purchased two million doses of Sinopharm vaccine are on the way to reaching Bangladesh from China.
The consignment is expected to reach Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 1am in two aircraft of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said Hualong Yan, deputy chief of mission at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka.
Also read: Bangladesh to receive 45 lakh vaccine doses from COVAX, China within 2 days: Minister
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Health Minister Zahid Maleque will receive the vaccine doses.
Bangladesh to receive 45 lakh vaccine doses from COVAX, China within 2 days: Minister
Bangladesh will receive 45 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine from COVAX facility and China within the next couple of days.
Twenty-five lakh doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine under COVAX facility will arrive in Dhaka on Friday and Saturday in two separate consignments.
On the other hand, Bangladesh will receive two consignments of commercially purchased Sinopharm vaccine doses -- 11 lakh and 9 lakh -- in the next two days.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque shared the updates in a video message on Thursday.
Read: 80pc people to be vaccinated by March: Zahid Maleque
“Around 12 lakh vaccine doses will reach Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 11:20 pm on Friday and the rest on Saturday,” said the minister.
The minister will be present at the airport on Friday.
Earlier, Deputy Chief of Mission at Chinese Embassy in Dhaka Hualong Yan said the first consignment of 2 million doses of vaccine as part of Bangladesh government's commercial purchase from China's Sinopharm are ready for delivery in Beijing.
80pc people to be vaccinated by March: Zahid Maleque
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Wednesday informed the Parliament that 80 per cent of the country’s people will get Covid-19 jabs by March next year.
“We’ll be able to vaccinate 80 per cent of people within the first quarter of the next year,” he said, explaining how Bangladesh would collect the Covid-19 vaccines from several sources by this time.
The minister was speaking on a cut motion on his ministry in Parliament as the opposition Jatiya Party, BNP and Ganoforum MPs harshly criticised the health ministry for its failure to ensure vaccines for mass people.
He said some 25 lakh Covid-19 vaccines of Moderna will arrive within July 2 to July 3.
Vaccines purchased from China will also start coming by that time. Bangladesh has inked an agreement with Chinese Sinopharm to get 1.50 crore vaccine, said Zahid.
Bangladesh will get 6.30 crore vaccines within December under the Covax facilities… the country will have a total stock of 10 crore vaccine doses by December through which it will be able to inoculate five crore people, he said.
READ: University students to be vaccinated for reopening dorms: UGC
Besides, Bangladesh will get 7 crore doses from Johnson & Johnson in the first quarter of the next year and it will be able to inoculate seven crore people with this, he added.
BNP MPs Harunur Rashid, Rumeen Farhana and Mosharrof Hossain, Jatiya Party MPs Mujibul Haque, Pir Fazlur Rahman, Rustum Ali Faraji, Shameem Haider Patwary, among others, joined the discussion on cut motion during the passage of the national budget for 2021-22 fiscal.
They also came down heavily on the minister for allegations of widespread corruption, irregularities and mismanagement in the health sector.
The health minister, however, rejected these allegations and asked the lawmakers.
“You’ll have to say specifically where corruption took place. The wholesale allegation of corruption in the health sector is not acceptabe,” he said.
Zahid said that none could go abroad to receive the medical treatment amid the Covid-19 restrictions and they are taking services in Bangladeshi hospitals. “You are taking services since the hospital can render the services. You remain well,” he said.
READ: South Korea mulls dropping masks for vaccinated
The minister claimed that no corruption took place in procurement of masks. “The masks that MPs talked about were never purchased. No payment was made,” he said.