WITH the advent of winter, the people affected with cold-borne viruses and infections are thronging the hospitals across the country, while infants are the worst victims. Most of the diseases that affect children in winter are common cold, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, tonsillitis and sore throat, asthma, earache, whooping cough, stomach flu or viral diarrhoea.
A child’s immune system is not as strong as an adult person, and they are vulnerable to be infected in different cold diseases during the change of season. For their vulnerability to diseases during the changing season from late autumn to winter, the elderly person of the family should keep their infants warm and away from the already affected people.
Conditions of street children, slum dwellers, Rohingya children, children from poor families are particularly vulnerable because they are directly exposed to cold. Physicians warned that during this season parents should be more aware to protect their kids from cold flu and other cold-borne diseases by providing them with warm clothes. Besides, the government and the affluent section of the society should extend their kind support to keep warm the street children, urchins, and poor people. More important is the need for arranging make-shift shelters for them.
In urban areas, healthcare facilities in government hospitals must also be put on a stronger footing in winter. Treatment facilities for winter-induced diseases are also inadequate in the country’s hospitals and clinics, especially in rural areas. The public hospitals in northern districts and Upazila health complexes should be well equipped with life-saving incubators, inhalation system and drugs.
Cold wave may shiver the country from the end of December to mid-February, so the government has enough time to equip the hospitals in rural areas or train up doctors, while aid and shelters for the poor people are extremely necessary.
