Country to receive 7 crore Sinopharm doses: Health Minister

The country will receive 7 crore doses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, said Health Minister Jahid Maleque.

He said this while inaugurating Covid field hospital at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in the capital on Saturday (August 7).

Mentioning to an agreement inked between Dhaka and Beijing the minister said, “China has already started sending vaccines. We will sign another deal to bring 6 crore shots. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave us approval for this.”

Out of six crore doses, 2 crore will arrive in October and 2 crore on November. The rest will come in phases, Jahid Maleque said.

Earlier on the day, Maleque opened the BSMMU field hospital at Bangamata Fazilatunnesa Mujib convention hall.

The hospital will accommodate 357 beds. Out of them 40 will be ICU. Others has been connected to central oxygen system. It will be later upgraded to thousand-bed hospital, the minister said during the inauguration ceremony.   

“The hospital has been facilitated with all sorts of Covid features. But no every patient will be admitted here. New arrivals and risky patients will be treated here,” added he.