Dengue patients undergoing treatment on a floor at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital in the capital on Tuesday, following a heavy rush of such patients — FE Photo by KAZ Sumon The dengue outbreak has turned so severe across the country that almost 100 people are getting infected with the deadly virus in each hour, official sources said on Tuesday.
Such a massive spread of the mosquito-borne disease has sparked panic among the citizens in all communities, who are thronging their nearby healthcare centres, in a large number, even in case of slight pain and fever.
As a result, the authorities of different hospitals, clinics and diagnosis centres are struggling hard to cope with the extreme pressure of service-seekers.
Even in some places, the healthcare centres have stopped conducting dengue diagnosis tests, like - NS1 and IgM, due to shortage of the required testing kits.
A total of 2,348 people were found dengue positive in the last 24 hours until 8:00 am on Tuesday. It is a new record of single-day dengue infection, according to the health emergency operations centre and control room under the state-run Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
In line with the estimation, about 100 people have been infected with the dengue virus in each hour on an average, which experts have termed very alarming.
With the DGHS latest data, a total of 29,912 people have so far been tested dengue positive since July. Of them, 21,921 patients returned home after receiving treatment.
At least six people died of the viral fever in Dhaka, Dinajpur and Rangpur on Tuesday. Of the victims, four died in Dhaka.
With the latest death incidents, the number of people died of the disease has increased to 65. However, the DGHS is claiming the number of death to be 23.
While visiting some key hospitals in the capital on Tuesday, the FE correspondent found dengue patients everywhere.
Talking to the FE, deputy director of the Mugda Medical College and Hospital Md Khairul Alam said 484 dengue patients are now receiving treatment at the 500-bed hospital.
"That means more than 95 per cent of the patients here are dengue-infected. So, just think of the difficulties that we're going through."
It is very difficult to accommodate any more victim in the medical facility, as even its stairs are being used for treating patients.
Eight dengue patients have died in the hospital so far, he added.
On the other hand, long queues of people were seen at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College (ShSMC) to get their blood tested.
Besides, some 370 dengue-affected people were undergoing treatment in it.
Director of the ShSMC Professor Uttam Kumar Barua said almost half of the patients are children, and the number of such patients is increasing as the time progresses.
About the pressure of service-seekers, he said around 200 panic-stricken people came to the hospital for blood test to check whether they are carrying the virus or not.
"Only 25 per cent of them were found dengue positive. People are in serious panic now," he noted.
The overall dengue situation is deteriorating in such a way that the experts voice deep concern over an impending healthcare disaster across the country, if the situation remains unchanged throughout the month (August).
They called upon the government to take extra precautionary measures, so that the virus cannot spread during the Eid vacation. Then millions of people will depart Dhaka, the epicentre of the epidemic, for all the regions across the country.
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