Hospitals treat thousands for dehydration amid heat wave

The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) and other major health facilities in the capital admitted thousands with heat wave syndromes as excessively hot weather gripped the country for the past two weeks.
Doctors said despite their preparedness to treat extra number of people with diarrhoeal diseases, dehydration or fever due to hot weather in March and April, the hospital registrars this year appeared to be enlarged in size in terms of patient enrolment due to protracted heat waves. “Since the start of March, we (ICDDRB) alone so far admitted more than 19,000 people, most of them being children,” chief of hospital of the specialized facility Dr Azharul Islam Khan told BSS.
The state-run facility for children Shishu Hospital in the city also reported high rate of admission in the past several weeks because of the mild heat wave exposing minor children to severe health risks in particular.
“Parents are taking their small children with problems like high fever, cough and diarrhoea as the hot weather made them sick,” Director of the Facility Prof Dr Manzoor Hussain said. Children in villages in particular were getting sick as they take prolonged dip in ponds and cannels and then start playing under burning sun while the quick change of temperature make them sick.