Netizens come together for hospitals in Dhaka

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all walks of our daily lives and has brought the entire world to a standstill. Quarantine has given birth to an online existence filled with Dalgona coffee but within the ranks of the newly confined, there are those among us who are using their extra time to try and effect change.

While the virus rages on Biblically, our frontline healthcare workers have become some of the most vulnerable of us all. With severe shortages of medical and personal protective equipment, such as masks and respirators; our nurses, doctors and hospital custodial staff are being exposed.

To stem the tide of infection in our hospitals and protect our healthcare workers fighting COVID-19, a group of Bangladeshi professionals based in Canada and the United States have come together and started a GoFundMe campaign, "N95 Masks for Doctors In Bangladesh for COVID-19", to send much needed medical respirators to hospitals in Bangladesh. The core team counts among their members Marzooq Haque, an IT consultant based in Toronto; Dr Saiyara Sheikh Shama, a medical doctor currently based in Toronto; Nuzhat Binte Arif, an industrial designer currently based in Boston; Anil Wasif, a Senior Advisor for the Government of Ontario, Canada; Nabil Arif, a Regional Mobilizer for the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and Tahmid Hasib Khan, founder of EPPHAM and a TEDx speaker.

The team has acquired respirators such as the 3M N95, KN95 and the Venus FFP2 masks. The team has been successful in distributing 1000 respirators to ten different hospitals in Bangladesh. Additionally, the group has prepared educational guidelines with regards to the respirators and their potential for limited reuse. Medical supply shortages and price gouging are rampant and this group has extensive experience in vetting international suppliers and ascertaining acceptable standards for masks and respirators. They are providing support and information to all those who are also engaged in similar endeavours to further the effort in fighting COVID-19.

The team is currently engaged in continuing its endeavour through a second campaign. They are operating within an umbrella of other organizations and campaigns that have banded together under the term #BacharLorai. They would like to entreat those able and willing, no matter their means, to support the campaign and collaborate with them in their efforts.