Fifty-year-old Sokhina Begum admitted her son to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) with dengue fever four days ago and was struggling to manage a bed for him, but made a little fortune.
Hailing from Matuail of Dhaka, Sokhina along with another family member stays with the 25-year-old who developed unusual fever and body pain.
"Scores of dengue patients are there in the room getting dengue treatment. Doctors and nurses are providing medical support as we demand but we understand the real picture here. Dozens of patients getting admitted against limited health staffers."
"Two of our next-door neighbours have also been infected with dengue at the same time," she said.
Government hospitals in Dhaka have been grappling with increasing numbers of patients, breaking all previous records in the first half of this year.
Most of the cases admitted are Dhaka's residents. The number of cases coming from elsewhere is also rising.
The dengue death rate is five-year high this year, disclosed the Directorate General of Health Services. Ismail Hossain (50) from Laxmipur is admitted to DMCH.
"Having failed to get proper treatment at Laxmipur Sadar upazila, my son brought me here. I was admitted last Monday but still couldn't manage a bed. The hospital seems to be overwhelmed," he told the FE.
He has been suffering from severe fever, body pain and vomiting. His platelet count had been down to 40,000.
On Thursday afternoon, 25 new patients were admitted to (DMCH), on-duty senior nurse Jannatul told the FE.
"We're always awake to provide medicare to the patients admitted. This year, we're seeing yet fewer problems of fast-decreasing platelets than last year's. It seems dengue fever changes its nature and becomes more difficult to diagnose immediately."
Dr Rajib, an on-duty DMCH doctor dedicated for dengue patients, told the FE that often they have to discharge duty up to 12 hours.
"We're supposed to discharge duty from 8:00am to 2:30pm but due to the growing pressure of dengue patients we have to extend our duty time," he added.
Dengue has changed its symptoms. The symptoms like fever, body pain or vomiting and disease intensity have been accelerated this year, Dr Rajib said.
So many parents were seen taking treatment on hospital floors and balconies as the DMCH has dedicated sixth, seventh and eighth floors for dengue treatment.
The situation has turned worse at Mugda Hospital.
Ninety-five new cases have been hospitalised there in the last 24 hour. There are 500 beds in the hospital, but 455 alone are dengue cases until Thursday.
Addl director general (admin) Dr Rasheda Sultana said they have been trying to meet manpower shortages raised by the hospital.
"If the situation doesn't worsen further, we hope we could handle the situation and the pressure of dengue patients with this existing manpower," she told the FE.
The DGHS provided training to some 30 private hospitals in Dhaka city and they would start delivering dengue treatment in the next seven days.
Meanwhile, the DGHS on Thursday said more than nine people died in the past 24 hours until 8:00 am on Thursday, including eight from Dhaka.
Some 1,755 new cases were recorded at the same time, taking the total cases of hospitalisation to 27,547.
Of the total cases, 21,455 were released from hospitals, according to the DGHS.
Last year, 281 people died due to dengue, the highest in the history of the country.
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