Noman Mosharef :
The hospital authorities are struggling to cope up with the rising number of dengue affected patients as the mosquito-borne disease keeps getting worse in absence of prompt actions to destroy the larva of Aedes mosquitoes, the carrier of dengue virus.
Hospitals in Dhaka city have already run out of beds amid a worst dengue outbreak this year.
Dengue has also spread across the country as people infected with dengue virus found in 61 districts till Tuesday.
Health officials said the disease is spreading across the country as most of the patients outside Dhaka carried the virus after being bitten by the Aedes mosquitoes in the capital.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), a record number of 1,335 dengue patients admitted to hospitals in 61 districts in the last 24 hours till Tuesday afternoon. Of them, 974 got admitted to hospitals in Dhaka and the rest 361 across the country.
The total number of people admitted to hospitals stood at 15,072 after counting new patients enrolled on Tuesday, according DGHS data.
Experts say the outbreak of dengue is worse in Dhaka than any other part of the country as the civic bodies have failed to take prompt action to destroy mosquito breeding grounds. They also said, pesticides used by the Dhaka city corporations are ineffective to control the mosquito menace.
“Pesticides used for mosquito control are not 100 per cent effective. Process is on to procure effective medicines. We will complete this task within the shortest possible time,” Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Mohammed Sayeed Khokon told reporters on Tuesday.
When contacted, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Md Atiqul Islam told The New Nation yesterday that they are working relentlessly to control the dengue outbreak.
“To effectively control dengue mosquitoes, we will procure effective medicine as soon as possible,” he said, adding, “It cannot procure overnight as several government agencies are involved in this process.”
Besides, he added, they have to take experts opinion prior to bring new medicine.
Referring to a research, Professor Dr Saifullah Munshi, Chairman of Virology Department of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), said that youths between 16 to 30 years are mostly being affected by the current year’s dengue outbreak
“At present, four serotypes of dengue have been identified and most men are usually being its worst victims,” he said while briefing reporters yesterday.
A total of 96 dengue-infected patients are being admitted to the BSMMU. Of them, 33 got admitted on Tuesday.
As of Monday, a total of 679 patients got admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, according to an official figure.
A DMCH official told The New Nation yesterday that the hospital is now facing huge rush of dengue patients as the disease continues to take an alarming turn.
Meanwhile, four people, who had been diagnosed with dengue fever, died in Dhaka and Barishal on Tuesday.
With these, the number of people who have died after being diagnosed with the disease has risen to 39. But the official death toll is only eight.
In Dhaka, Farzana Hossain, 42, hailing from Siddhirganj of Narayanganj, breathed her last at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the DMCH around 1:45am on Tuesday, said Dr Nasir Uddin, assistant director of DMCH.
Meanwhile, Md Liton, 25, a driver and resident of Dhaka’s Wari, died around 10:15am while receiving treatment at the medicine ward of DMCH, Dr Nasir Uddin said.
Liton was admitted to DMCH for dengue on Sunday, he further said.
In Barishal, two people, Aslam Khan, 24, and Sohel, 18, died after they were rushed to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital.
Aslam, hailing from Shyampur Bakerganj of Barishal was rushed to the hospital in an unconscious state last night and died around 3:15am, our district correspondent reports quoting the hospital’s director Dr Bakir Hossain.
Another patient, Sohel 18, was also brought to the hospital from his hometown in Kaukhali area of Pirojpur around 1:20am. He breathed his last around 3:40am, the official said.
Besides, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare cancelled leaves of all of its officials and staff due to dengue and floods situation in the country.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the ministry on Monday afternoon, a press release said yesterday.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also formed a separate Monitoring Cell to observe the ongoing outbreaks of dengue diseases and the ongoing activities of the ministry.
