THE number of diarrhoea patients in the country and especially in the capital phenomenally increased over the past week as news reports said patients are overcrowding city hospitals for treatment. National Health Crisis Management Center and Control Room of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reported the number of diarrhea patients undergoing treatment in hospitals on Monday last was 1096 compared to 844 on April 1.
The outbreak of diarrhoea and such other heat wave related diseases take the endemic form as summer overtakes the nature. This is a reality that simply can’t be denied. But what is most important at this moment is that the medical community and the Health Ministry must join hands and collaborate to prevent the outbreak of diarrhoea and protect people with quick availability of treatment and other awareness measures to handle the health risks. Especially children who fall easy victims of rising heat and accompanied dehydration must get all care from diarrhoeal attacks.
Experts say children are highly sensitive to hot and humid weather as they get dehydrated from it and then germs multiply in their bodies easily. Moreover, rickshaw pullers and day labourers who work under the sun remain largely unprotected as they suffer the worst from growing heat and dehydration to fall sick because they lose more water in sweat then they take in. Even school children are equally falling victims from rising heat. More children in villages get sick because they take baths in ponds or other water bodies in hot weather.
Diarrhoea affects slum people the most who drink unsafe water to quell their thirst. In high temperatures, many food items also get easily contaminated with harmful bacteria. Doctors said that people should drink boiled and safe water all the time. Before eating, they should warm food if that is kept in refrigerators. There is no alternative to precautionary measures against such risks.
Dhaka city hospitals usually provide treatment to around 250 to 300 diarrhoea patients at a time. But the number goes up between 400 and 500 during March-May season because of rising heat. The crowding of patients at hospitals suggest diarrhoea is taking the endemic form that need to be properly handled. It can’t be neglected because it can cause instant death if proper treatment is not made available at right time.
In our view the government should gear up treatment facilities and also urgently set-up special treatment units in diarrhoea disaster-prone areas with mobile hospital facilities. A joint initiative of the government and NGOs may also take up oral saline distribution programs along with precautionary public awareness campaigns to alert common people and familiarize them with protective and preventive measures. The threat to public health may only be overcome through such collective efforts at government and social level.
Experts say children are highly sensitive to hot and humid weather as they get dehydrated from it and then germs multiply in their bodies easily. Moreover, rickshaw pullers and day labourers who work under the sun remain largely unprotected as they suffer the worst from growing heat and dehydration to fall sick because they lose more water in sweat then they take in. Even school children are equally falling victims from rising heat. More children in villages get sick because they take baths in ponds or other water bodies in hot weather.
Diarrhoea affects slum people the most who drink unsafe water to quell their thirst. In high temperatures, many food items also get easily contaminated with harmful bacteria. Doctors said that people should drink boiled and safe water all the time. Before eating, they should warm food if that is kept in refrigerators. There is no alternative to precautionary measures against such risks.
Dhaka city hospitals usually provide treatment to around 250 to 300 diarrhoea patients at a time. But the number goes up between 400 and 500 during March-May season because of rising heat. The crowding of patients at hospitals suggest diarrhoea is taking the endemic form that need to be properly handled. It can’t be neglected because it can cause instant death if proper treatment is not made available at right time.
In our view the government should gear up treatment facilities and also urgently set-up special treatment units in diarrhoea disaster-prone areas with mobile hospital facilities. A joint initiative of the government and NGOs may also take up oral saline distribution programs along with precautionary public awareness campaigns to alert common people and familiarize them with protective and preventive measures. The threat to public health may only be overcome through such collective efforts at government and social level.
