When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit in Bangladesh in 2020, the MOHFW of Bangladesh and in fact the whole world, were drowned in unprecedented uncertainties about the management of the outbreak, prevention, and identification and treatment of the COVID-19 patients. In these initial days, MSH’s BHB project provided critical support to the MOHFW to establish the DGHS’s integrated COVID-19 National Control Room, making effective pandemic communications, and supplying critical COVID-19 logistics.
Technical support to the DGHS’s Integrated COVID-19 National Control Room
- Establishment of the Integrated COVID-19 National Control Room
- Provision four technical staff at the control room
- Development of different guidelines, SoPs, ToRs, handbooks, flow-charts, and communication materials (poster/leaflet/brochure, etc.), videos, infographics, and other communication materials
- Drafting official letters and email communication
- Taking notes/minutes at meetings
- Day-to-day operations, planning, logistics tracking including record keeping, updating stock in the supply chain management portal, procuring PPEs and other logistics, exploring sourcing and verifying authenticity of different supplies, conducting literature reviews and sharing findings, communicating with different MOHFW wings/departments, and other Government of Bangladesh agencies and other organizations.
Procurement and supply of logistics
- COVID-19 Testing Kits: 13,008 rtPCR testing kits, 5,000 swab collection (VTM testing kits and 500 ‘2019-nCOV Anatoliya detection kit and extraction kits’)
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): 50,000 gowns with caps and shoe covers; 25,000 face shields; 50,000 goggles; 50,000 masks; 4,900 pairs of gloves; and 5,000 pairs of shoe cover
- Vehicle support: 5 rented vans for staff transportation
- Logistics and equipment: Two laserjet printers (one black and white and one color); toner cartridges; one spiral machine; one microwave oven; two water purifiers; 12 USB storage drives; stationery (papers, pens, pencils, flyers, etc.); 100 android tablet PCs; 100 jackets;
Support to the National call center, Shastho Batayon-16263
For a three-month period, 01 May 2020 and ending on 31 July 2020, the project deployed
- medical doctors, psycho-social consultants, and health information officers at the COVID-19 national health call centers of the MOHFW
- provided computers, noise cancelling headphones of the call center; and improved the center’s technological infrastructure.
