News Desk :
Dengue patients in the capital had to spend TK33,817 on average in 2019, according to a study by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
The cost of treatment may be even higher now as the pattern of dengue infection has changed since the study was conducted, said BIDS research fellow Abdur Razzaque Sarker while presenting the study during a fortnightly BIDS seminar.
The topic of the recent seminar was “Epidemiological and Economic Burden of Dengue in Dhaka, Bangladesh.”
Sarker added that the burden of the treatment cost was felt most by poorer families, as it amounted to 139% of their total household income.
A total of 302 dengue patients hospitalized at two public and two private hospitals participated in the study, he said.
Patients undergoing treatment for dengue at public hospitals were required to pay Tk22,379 on average, while those at private hospitals paid Tk47,230, the study found.
Public hospitals spent Tk6,076 per patient, it added.
The overall OOP expenditure was 56% of monthly household income, which indicated that dengue treatment was a catastrophic healthcare burden for their family considering the 25% catastrophic threshold level, Sarker explained.
In the poorest quintile, treatment cost exceeded 139% of the total household income, which indicated that the poorest households often relied on other sources of expenditure like savings, borrowing from friends and families, and even selling assets, the researcher observed.
The cost is even higher for patients with comorbidities. According to the researcher, the treatment cost for these patients is Tk25,459 at public hospitals and Tk52,250 at private hospitals.
Furthermore, the cost of treatment increased with the length of the stay at the hospital. The cost is about Tk122,240 if a patient stays for more than 10 days at a private hospital, while it is Tk41,609 at a public hospital.
Sarker recommended alternative financing methods, such as the introduction of a national health insurance program, to deal with the economic burden of dengue treatment on households.
BIDS Director General Dr Binayak Sen stressed the need to consider the dengue treatment cost issue seriously to ensure the financial safety of poverty-stricken households
Dengue prevalence much higher in DSCC
Interviews of over 4,000 people from 1,176 households in Dhaka South City Corporations (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) revealed that dengue prevalence was higher in DSCC (2.27%) than in DNCC (1.37%)
The dengue prevalence rate was higher still among individuals with higher education (3.41%), Sarker said.
The study also found that risk of dengue infection was 2.21 times higher for people who did not use mosquito nets. Risk of infection was 1.88 times higher for those who kept open water pots, tires, or tubs in their houses.
Furthermore, those who did not clean refrigerator water trays regularly were at 2.82 times higher risk of infection than those who did.
The dengue prevalence rate was 4.33% for those who lived on the 5th floor and above. Families with more than five members had a significantly lower chance of infection than smaller households.
Living in houses with gardens or regularly visiting parks increased the risk of infection by 2.41 times and 1.84 times, respectively, Sarker added.
“What we need to do is to ensure hygiene in our daily behaviour and in our homes,” he said.
