Patients infected with dengue take treatment on the corridor of Mugda Medical College and Hospital in Dhaka as hospitalisation due to dengue broke all past records on Saturday. — Sony Ramany
The numbers of dengue patients hospitalised in a single day and in this year so far have broken the all-time records in Bangladesh on Saturday.
According to Health Services health emergency operation centre and control room, the number of dengue cases hospitalised on Saturday was 683 while the figure for this year till Saturday was 10,528.
The peak time for the infection is still to come.
The control room keeps record of 47 hospitals only – 12 government and 35 private hospitals in Dhaka — and prepares its report based on them though countless patients take treatment from other private hospitals and clinics and doctors.
The number of cases hospitalised in a day has surpassed the record of 2000, the year it appeared in Bangladesh and spread across the capital on a large scale.
Health Services director general Abul Kalam Azad has admitted that the number of infections is much higher than the normal this year.
‘Yes, the dengue situation is indeed grave,’ he told New Age, replying to a question about how grave the dengue situation has become.
Ironically, while the situation due to dengue has been turning from bad to worse by the day, government leaders including ministers and city mayors are denying this and saying the situation was under control.
The first dengue case in Bangladesh was recorded in 2000.
Till Saturday, the total number of dengue patients hospitalised since was 60,506 and 305 of them died, according to data compiled by the Health Services.
The cases hospitalised with the infection crossed the 6,000 mark four times since 2000 – with 6,232 in 2002, 6,060 in 2016 and 10,148 in 2018.
Till Saturday, the number of dengue patients hospitalised in the past 27 days of July this year already reached 8,384, with at least eight deaths, though unofficial reports said the death figure could be 35.
Meanwhile, Jahangirnagar University’ first year student U Khein Nu died of the viral fever in Cox’s Bazar on Saturday.
On the day, at least 2,671 dengue cases were taking treatment at different hospitals, including 658 at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, 207 at Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital, 200 at Mitford Hospital, 194 at BGB Hospital and 172 at Holy Family Red Crescent Hospital.
The mosquito-caused infection also spread outside the capital, with at least 373 infected patients hospitalised at different hospitals in various district towns.
Besides the patients in the capital’s hospitals, at least 128 people with the infection were under treatment at different hospitals in 16 districts of Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barishal divisions on Saturday.
The New Age correspondent in Rangpur reported that dengue patients were flocking to Rangpur Medical College Hospital and at least 21 patients got admitted at the hospital till Saturday noon.
The RMCH acting director Sultan Ahamed said that the patients had visited Dhaka city recently.
In Chapainawabganj, at least three dengue patients were hospitalised since Friday, said the district Sadar hospital resident physician Nadim Sarkar.
Dengue, caused by aedes mosquito, appears with the advent of monsoon in May and continues through post-monsoon in October.
Usually, the heavier flow of dengue infections is experienced between August and mid-October, with the peak for the disease yet to follow.
The Health Services chief has also said that the situation is likely to turn worse if the aedes mosquitos cannot be controlled.
He said that the Health Services was taking all necessary measures to contain the situation.
Separate dengue wards and one-stop service centres are being opened for dengue patients at government hospitals while coordination was going on with private hospitals, he added.
Mahmudur Rahman, public health expert and former director of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, told New Age that the dengue situation was alarming.
‘The government needs to officially admit that dengue has taken a serious proportion,’ he said.
Video by: Sony Ramany
Source: New Age.
