Service availability and readiness assessment of COVID-19 disease management at different tiers of health service delivery in Bangladesh

Background: The world is passing through a hard time due to the highly infectious COVID-19 pandemic. Like other countries in the world, the Bangladesh government has taken various preventive measures. As part of this, the availability and readiness of different health facilities is crucial. Objective: The study aimed to assess availability and readiness based on logistics, workforce, clinical management, and IPC. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted from August 20 to September 30, 2021, which comprised a health facility survey with a sample of 210. The health facilities included all three tiers of hospitals, covering 24 districts of eight divisions. All COVID-19 dedicated hospitals were included in this survey. The questionnaire consisted of a standard checklist developed by WHO, DGHS, and CDC. Results: The overall scores for ICU, HDU, and ventilation service were 76.8%, 87.5%, and 85.7%, respectively, but they were almost missing in Upazila health complex and below the average in non-dedicated hospitals. All (100%) secondary and tertiary level hospitals had a 24-hour staffed emergency unit, with dedicated hospitals outperforming non-dedicated hospitals (99.2% vs 98.7%). Above 90% of hospitals in different tiers had hand hygiene supplies and respiratory hygiene supplies for staff and patients, 98% of the primary level hospitals displayed instructions on hand and respiratory hygiene practices. On the other hand, 94.9% of secondary level hospitals had clearly identified and separated COVID-19 isolation areas from non-COVID-19 areas; 82.1% of secondary level hospitals had service providers (MOs) who used PPE; 97.4% had routine cleaning and disinfection of ambulances done according to IPC guidelines; and 64.1% had staff of laboratory, laundry, food services, and waste management teams who used appropriate PPE. Secondary level hospitals had a better availability of PPE compared to primary and tertiary level hospitals, which consisted of protective gowns (87.8%), disposable latex gloves (examination) (92.5%), goggles, protective (82.9%), face shields (72.5%), respirator masks (N95 or FFP2) (75.0%), and masks, medical/surgical (97.6%) available for all health service providers. Almost 26.2% facility have PCR testing lab and almost all (96.7%) the facilities have specimen collection system in their facility. Conclusion: The service availability and readiness regarding COVID-19 among different tiers of health facilities in Bangladesh are not adequate. We need more support for disease detection capacities through provision of technical expertise, laboratory equipment and increase capacity of the secondary and primary health care tier along with national capacity for covid-19 testing. Bangladesh Medical Res Counc Bull 2022; 48: 160-171