Hundreds of patients suffering from diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, jaundice and typhoid have been crowding the hospitals in Sylhet over the last few days after falling victims to the sizzling hot summer.
According to officials of Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital, Sylhet General Hospital, Sylhet Shishu Hospital and doctors in several other hospitals in the city and district, the medical units, including private clinics, are hard-pressed to accommodate the growing number of patients for the past week or so. Most patients, doctors said, are coming with complaints of diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, jaundice, typhoid, pneumonia, dehydration, heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, fever, influenza and other viral diseases Meanwhile,
Sylhet met office- in-Charge, informed that they recorded the highest temperature at 39.5 degrees Celsius on Monday while it was recorded 40 degrees on Sunday.
Being the most vulnerable, elderly people and children are filling up majority of the beds in different hospitals and clinics of the city and district. With the existing infrastructure, physicians and nurses of the government hospitals, where most of the economically disadvantaged patients come for treatment; are facing serious difficulties in managing the sudden rush of patients.
Diarrhoea situation, especially in slum areas of the city is worsening due to hot weather and climate change; while treatment at the hospital is being hampered due to shortage of doctors and life saving medicines including orsaline in addition to accommodation problem, said Superintendent of Sylhet.
The 243-bed hospital run by Sylhet Shishu Foundation can hardly accommodate around 200 patients, including those kept on floors under special arrangement said administrative officer Shila Begum. about 164 diarrhoea patients were admitted at the hospital in only one week (Apr 13 to Apr 20), she added. Several guardians alleged that children admitted to the hospital are not getting proper services from doctors and nurses.
Civil Surgeon of Sylhet advised people to take precaution against symptoms like watery stool, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. He suggested all not to expose themselves to heat unnecessarily, to drink enough pure water, take fresh food and also to avoid street foods. In case of any dehydration, oral saline would be helpful, he added.
Diarrhoea patients must take more fluid orally initially for damage control, he said. But if the condition deteriorates, the patient should be admitted to a nearby hospital without waste of time, Civil Surgeon advised.
Meanwhile, Md Murad, a retail medicine trader at Shahjalal road in the city said sales of oral saline has soared almost three times higher than the past. ‘I am selling 50 to 70 packets of oral saline a day. It was 20 to 25 packets a week in the past’, he added.
