Reza Mahmud :
More than three lakh patients were hospitalised with diarrhoea across the country since the waterborne disease outbreak from mid March.
Though the waterborne disease spread in several districts, most of the report cover the capital city.
Meanwhile, 29 diarrhoea patients died so far as per the data of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (Icddr,b) Hospital.
Data from the Icddr,b showed that 997 fresh patients were admitted to the hospital since morning to afternoon on Friday which was highest record in a single day in the health care facility.
Icddr,b failed to accommodate all bed seekers though it has installed several tents in the yard of the hospital due to the influx of the patients.
Officials of the hospital said, the sudden surge of the patients begun from mid-March while the disease appeared first in the first week of March.
“The outbreak of the waterborne disease began in the mid-March. The situation is deteriorating constantly. The number crossed the 1350 mark since the April 3,” AKM Tariful Islam Khan, Communication Manager of icddr,b told The New Nation on Saturday.
About 9,233 patients were admitted there on the first week of the April, while, more than 34,000 infected persons got admission in Icddr,b so far since the March.
Meanwhile, the Icddr,b sources said, 25 patients has been died on the way the hospital while another four were died during taking medical treatment there.
Experts blamed polluted water supplied by Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) for the sudden and serious outbreak of the disease.
“People who stay outside frequently drink unsafe water with juice and as just drinking water which triggered the serious outbreak of the disease in this hot
weather,” Dr. Iqbal Hossain, Chief Scientific Officer of the Icddr,b said.
He suggested the people to wash both hands well after using toilet and before taking meal, and drink safe water always to be safe from the waterborne disease.
Meanwhile, DWASA has asked the city dwellers to boil water before they drink it. When contacted, Professor Dr. M. Muzaherul Huq told The New Nation, ” Drinking polluted water is the main reason on the outbreak of the waterborne disease, so people should be aware enough and avoid unsafe water in their every use .” “People should drink and prepare Iftari and Sehri items and baby foods and drinks with boiled and safe water,” he suggested.
