Reza Mahmud :
Chikunguniya fever, a mosquito-borne tropical disease, has taken a serious turn in the last few days as it is now spreading throughout the country.
But the government has not taken any effective measures to combat the diseases caused by Aedes mosquito menace.
Earlier the Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim had asked the city corporations to destroy the mosquito breeding grounds from the capital Dhaka as well as other metropolitan cities.
Both Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation are spreading the pesticides to destroy the mosquito breeding hubs but no results have yet been yielded rather the disease is spreading fast.
The Health Minister remains idle after giving the instruction. Even, he did not express any concern over the burning issue
relating to the chikunguniya fever.
According to the Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), around 2500 people have been inflicted with the chikunguniya virus in the country.
But practically the number of the patients are much more higher than the government statistics as most of the families in capital Dhaka suffer from the disease.
When contacted, the Control Room of Health and Family Welfare Ministry, an official preferring not to be named said more than five thousand patients and their family members were given advices over phone between 10:00 am and 7:00pm on Wednesday.
“As we are receiving phone calls from the patients in large number, it does means the disease is now spreading fast in the city. Besides, the disease is also spreading to every corner of the country,” he added.
When contacted, Professor Dr. ABM Abdullah, Dean of Faculty of Medicine of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) said the disease has taken a serious turn and spread fast.
“Aedes mosquito is responsible for the disease. And this mosquito is also responsible for dengue disease. But there are many difference between the two diseases”, he mentioned.
He said when people are inflicted with the dengue, they do not feel pain in their different parts of the bodies.
“However, people inflicted with chikunguniya feel acute pain in their bodies. Chikunguniya patients suffer from pain for long even after the recovery from fever,” the physician said.
Apart from these, he also said the patients also loss their normal work capability for long.
Visiting the city’s different hospitals on Thursday, this reporter found the government and private hospitals struggling to provide treatment to the increased number of chikunguniya patients.
Experts said as the government physicians and Health officials asked patients not to admit to the hospitals for this disease, the real figure of chikunguniya patients could not be identified.
“The government opened ‘Emergency Operation Centers’ across the country which now remain open round the clock,” said Professor Dr. Sanya Tahmina, Director (Diseases Control) and Line Director (Communication Disease Control).
The experts said as most of the patients are not being admitted to the hospitals or clinics, the real number of patients could not be known.
The City Corporations assigned to destroy the mosquito breeding are not working, they alleged.
“Specially, DNCC has not taken the issue seriously. Although 21 places have been identified as Aedes mosquitoes breeding grounds in the DNCC area, it did not take any effective steps. But the authority has cut the budget this year by more than three crore taka,” said a physician from BSMMU.
Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) have identified 21 as the most risky places in the city for chikunguniya disease.
The risky areas are Uttara-9, Middle Badda, Gulshan-1, Lalmatia, Pallabi, Moghbazar, Malibagh, Rampura, Tejgaon, Banani, Nayatola, Kuril, Pirerbagh, Rayer Bazar, Shyamoli, Uttara-4, Monipuripara, Mohammadpur, Mohakhali, Mirpur-1 and Korail Slum.
Tk 20 crore has been sanctioned for destroying the mosquito breeding hubs in the DNCC budget for the fiscal 2017-18 while Tk 23.25 crore was for the last fiscal year.
Replying to a query about the present situation of chikunguniya, DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq said they have reduced the budget this year.
“We have spent around Tk 16.85 crore last year. And Tk 6 crore had remained unused last year. So, this year’s budget is not less than the amount we spent last year,” the Mayor said.
On the other hands Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon said their men are destroying the mosquito breeding grounds. Chikunguniya would be controlled within 4 weeks, he hoped.
DSCC has appointed 108 more workers on temporary basis for spreading pesticides to kill Aedes mosquitoes. Besides, the Imams of one hundred mosques of old Dhaka delivered lectures on chikunguniya awareness before Jumma prayers on Friday.
Leaflets were also distributed on Friday in the areas.
The awareness programme will be held on Saturday (today) also in the city’s 10 schools.
Many people of Narsingdi and Narayanganj districts have already been inflicted with the chikunguniya.
Besides, chikunguniya also spread to Kishoreganj and Brahmanbaria districts.
Abul Kalam Azad, Director General, Directorate General of Health Services said that physicians and students have taken various programmes to create awareness among the people across the country.
“The patients do not need to go to hospital. The patients should stay home,” he said.
Chikunguniya fever, a mosquito-borne tropical disease, has taken a serious turn in the last few days as it is now spreading throughout the country.
But the government has not taken any effective measures to combat the diseases caused by Aedes mosquito menace.
Earlier the Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim had asked the city corporations to destroy the mosquito breeding grounds from the capital Dhaka as well as other metropolitan cities.
Both Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation are spreading the pesticides to destroy the mosquito breeding hubs but no results have yet been yielded rather the disease is spreading fast.
The Health Minister remains idle after giving the instruction. Even, he did not express any concern over the burning issue
relating to the chikunguniya fever.
According to the Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), around 2500 people have been inflicted with the chikunguniya virus in the country.
But practically the number of the patients are much more higher than the government statistics as most of the families in capital Dhaka suffer from the disease.
When contacted, the Control Room of Health and Family Welfare Ministry, an official preferring not to be named said more than five thousand patients and their family members were given advices over phone between 10:00 am and 7:00pm on Wednesday.
“As we are receiving phone calls from the patients in large number, it does means the disease is now spreading fast in the city. Besides, the disease is also spreading to every corner of the country,” he added.
When contacted, Professor Dr. ABM Abdullah, Dean of Faculty of Medicine of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) said the disease has taken a serious turn and spread fast.
“Aedes mosquito is responsible for the disease. And this mosquito is also responsible for dengue disease. But there are many difference between the two diseases”, he mentioned.
He said when people are inflicted with the dengue, they do not feel pain in their different parts of the bodies.
“However, people inflicted with chikunguniya feel acute pain in their bodies. Chikunguniya patients suffer from pain for long even after the recovery from fever,” the physician said.
Apart from these, he also said the patients also loss their normal work capability for long.
Visiting the city’s different hospitals on Thursday, this reporter found the government and private hospitals struggling to provide treatment to the increased number of chikunguniya patients.
Experts said as the government physicians and Health officials asked patients not to admit to the hospitals for this disease, the real figure of chikunguniya patients could not be identified.
“The government opened ‘Emergency Operation Centers’ across the country which now remain open round the clock,” said Professor Dr. Sanya Tahmina, Director (Diseases Control) and Line Director (Communication Disease Control).
The experts said as most of the patients are not being admitted to the hospitals or clinics, the real number of patients could not be known.
The City Corporations assigned to destroy the mosquito breeding are not working, they alleged.
“Specially, DNCC has not taken the issue seriously. Although 21 places have been identified as Aedes mosquitoes breeding grounds in the DNCC area, it did not take any effective steps. But the authority has cut the budget this year by more than three crore taka,” said a physician from BSMMU.
Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) have identified 21 as the most risky places in the city for chikunguniya disease.
The risky areas are Uttara-9, Middle Badda, Gulshan-1, Lalmatia, Pallabi, Moghbazar, Malibagh, Rampura, Tejgaon, Banani, Nayatola, Kuril, Pirerbagh, Rayer Bazar, Shyamoli, Uttara-4, Monipuripara, Mohammadpur, Mohakhali, Mirpur-1 and Korail Slum.
Tk 20 crore has been sanctioned for destroying the mosquito breeding hubs in the DNCC budget for the fiscal 2017-18 while Tk 23.25 crore was for the last fiscal year.
Replying to a query about the present situation of chikunguniya, DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq said they have reduced the budget this year.
“We have spent around Tk 16.85 crore last year. And Tk 6 crore had remained unused last year. So, this year’s budget is not less than the amount we spent last year,” the Mayor said.
On the other hands Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon said their men are destroying the mosquito breeding grounds. Chikunguniya would be controlled within 4 weeks, he hoped.
DSCC has appointed 108 more workers on temporary basis for spreading pesticides to kill Aedes mosquitoes. Besides, the Imams of one hundred mosques of old Dhaka delivered lectures on chikunguniya awareness before Jumma prayers on Friday.
Leaflets were also distributed on Friday in the areas.
The awareness programme will be held on Saturday (today) also in the city’s 10 schools.
Many people of Narsingdi and Narayanganj districts have already been inflicted with the chikunguniya.
Besides, chikunguniya also spread to Kishoreganj and Brahmanbaria districts.
Abul Kalam Azad, Director General, Directorate General of Health Services said that physicians and students have taken various programmes to create awareness among the people across the country.
“The patients do not need to go to hospital. The patients should stay home,” he said.
