HEALTH Minister Zahid Maleque has said the overall dengue situation in the country is somewhat under control. He made the statements before the newsmen on Saturday after visiting dengue patients at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University. About the alleged lack of dengue diagnosis kits in private hospitals, Maleque said a body has been formed to investigate the matter.
He said a total of 14 people have so far died of dengue. When reporters pointed out that 12 people have died at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital alone – with two other deaths at BSMMU and many others across the country – Maleque said: “I will let you know the actual figure after I get proper information on the matter.”
Newspaper reports said the number of dengue patients has reached a record high of 21,253 now. Of the cities, Dhaka has suffered the most, with 992 new patients being admitted from Thursday to Friday. Besides, 6,582 people were hospitalised until Friday; the number was 4,903 on Thursday. According to the unofficial tally, at least 47 people have so far died due to the mosquito-borne virus.
We are surprised how a responsible minister, who himself is also a physician, could take a futile attempt to suppress the fact when death toll due to dengue reaches at around 50. When most of the private hospitals are facing acute shortage of diagnosis kits, the Health Minister also tried to provide disinformation regarding the issue. But the most undesirable statement of the minister was -“dengue under control”. Couldn’t we term it an untrue statement?
The government high-ups are monitoring dengue situation round-the-clock and giving necessary directives to tackle the epidemic situation, whereas at that time Health Minister sees apparently no danger at all! We don’t expect more sincerity or better service from the person who could arrange a foreign trip leaving thousands of sick people behind. Still there are not enough insecticides to eliminate mosquitoes and no visible coordinated move involving the DCCs to fight with dengue which has already spread to country’s 64 districts.
The upcoming Eid-ul-Azha holiday period would be most problematic for the government. At that time, the mosquito-borne virus could travel to remote villages along with the infected people. And its result will be disastrous.
