United News of Bangladesh

The government has taken the highest level of preparedness to ensure uninterrupted healthcare services in 11 flood-hit districts in eastern Bangladesh, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Husain said on Monday. "No patient should be deprived of treatment. Adequate stocks of medicines, saline, antivenom and healthcare personnel have been kept ready while additional medical teams will be deployed from the central level if necessary," he said. The minister came up with the information while speaking at a press briefing on healthcare services in flood-affected areas at the Secretariat. Besides, the leave of health workers in the vulnerable districts had been cancelled to ensure uninterrupted medical services, he said. Heavy rainfall and flash floods over the past few days had inundated several districts in the Chattogram region, disrupting communication, economic activities and healthcare services, said the minister. Special healthcare services are now being provided in 11 flood-affected districts—Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Feni, Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Chandpur, Cumilla and Brahmanbaria, he said. When floodwater entered the ground floor of a hospital, doctors, nurses and health workers worked overnight to move medical equipment to safer locations to keep services operational, he added. A senior physician has been assigned to monitor the overall health situation in each district, while the Health Ministry's control room is operating round the clock to coordinate response efforts and collect field information, said the minister. The ministry is maintaining constant coordination with district administrations, civil surgeons, hospital authorities and local administrations to monitor the evolving situation, he said adding special instructions had been issued to ensure healthcare services for pregnant women, children and people living in remote areas. Referring to the risk of snakebites during floods, the minister said the government had issued advance warnings and urged people to take snakebite victims to hospitals instead of traditional healers. He said five snakebite patients were admitted to hospitals on the first night of the flooding, received antivenom treatment and have all recovered. Meanwhile, Health Secretary Md Kamruzzaman Chowdhury said 95 snakebite patients had so far received treatment at hospitals in the flood-affected districts and all of them were now healthy. More than 1,000 vials of antivenom are currently available, while 21,000 vials have been stocked at the district level. Another 25,000 vials are expected to be added within the next 15 days, ensuring there will be no shortage of the life-saving medicine, he said. The Health Secretary also said water purification tablets are being distributed to help prevent waterborne diseases after the floods. He said sufficient stocks of oral rehydration salts (ORS), intravenous saline, medicines and specialised medical teams have been kept ready to tackle diarrhoea, cholera and other waterborne diseases, while arrangements have also been made to transfer patients to higher-level hospitals if required.  

Bangladesh Bank has instructed banks to give special attention to disburse agriculture loans at reduced interest rate in the flood affected districts. The Agriculture Credit Department (ACD) of the BB on Monday issued a circular asking banks to disburse 40 per cent of the remaining allocation of Tk3000 crore refinance scheme in the flood-affected districts. The central bank created the re-finance scheme to boost production in the agriculture sector. Also read: Rain damages 412 hectares of croplands in Kurigram: DAE Banks will disburse agricultural loans under this scheme at 4 per cent interest rate. The BB will provide funds at 1.0 per cent interest rate to the banks. Marginal farmers in a group will get maximum Tk2.0 lakh loans without collateral, which will be paid by 18 months along with 6 months grace period. Agriculture and Rural Credit Policy covers cereals and cash crops, vegetables, legumes, imports of alternative crops such as pulses, oilseeds, spices and maize. Also read: Croplands inundated in Faridpur as major rivers swell Fruit and flower cultivation, fisheries, poultry and livestock sector, other agricultural crops and irrigation machinery and seed production are also covered in this loans scheme. The government declared flood affected districts will be covered under the Tk3000 crore refinance scheme.

The government has allocated rice, money and dry food as humanitarian assistance for affected people in flood and other natural disaster in Brahmanbaria, Cumilla, and Kishoreganj districts. The allocation was made by the Disaster Management and Relief Ministryon Friday, according to a press release. From the allotment, Brahmanbaria will get 2,000 packets of dry and other food products, Cumilla  200 MTs rice, Tk 17 lakh, 1,700 dry and other food packets, Kishoreganj  100 MTs rice, Tk 10 lakh and 2,000 packets of dry and other food products. Read: Flood water receding in Sunamganj, clogged wastes pollute municipal area air Earlier, 4,020 MTs rice, Tk 5.36 crore and 95,000 food packets were allocated for the 11 flood-hit districts across the country. The allocated relief (cash) money will be distributed only as humanitarian assistance to the victims of various natural calamities including floods during emergencies, said the release.  

Telecom operators have swung into emergency mode to restore their networks in the three flood-affected districts of Bangladesh --Sylhet, Sunamganj and Netrakona. So far, cellular coverage has been restored at 1,166 of 2,528 sites in these districts, the Post and Telecommunication Ministry has said in a release. Read: Govt working to restore telecommunication in flood-hit areas Three telecom operators -- Internet Service Provider (ISP), Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) and Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) -- provide services in these three districts. The Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has also set up a monitoring cell for the flood-hit areas.

Health Minister Zahid Malek said on Sunday that 4,000 medical teams of the Health Services Division are ready to provide services in 11 flood-hit districts of the country, especially the worst-hit Sylhet andSunamganj. Leaves for doctors, nurses and health workers at all levels in the Sylhet region have been canceled, said the minister at a hotel in the capital. Despite the unfavorable environment, water purification tablets, saline, medicines and food are being sent to these districts as much as possible. Read: Army puts stranded DU students on a bus headed home At present, 200 teams have been formed in Sylhet region, he added. The health minister said several districts, including Sylhet, have been hit by massive floods. “Especially the situation in Sylhet and Sunamganj are the worst-hit areas. For this, a control room has been set up at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in Dhaka as well as locally.” Flood situation in Sylhet started turning into a terrible disaster from Thursday afternoon as almost all the upazilas and municipal areas went under water.

Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque on Tuesday asked the officials concerned to monitor the field activities and supervise it closely after visiting the flood-hit areas as soon as possible to recoup farmers’ losses.

The government has distributed 7,147 metric tonnes of rice among the flood-affected people as humanitarian assistance.

Twenty-three districts have so far been hit by flooding and many more areas might be inundated if the situation does not improve, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Md Enamur Rahman said Thursday.