Authorities must deal with the upcoming winter woes

As winter sets in and temperature drops, people start experiencing cold weather coupled with foggy atmosphere, especially in the northwest region of the country. The number of patients, especially children and elderly people, with cold-related diseases has increased across the country. Various cold-related diseases like common cold, influenza, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, tonsillitis, sore throat, asthma, earache, whooping cough and viral diarrhoea are infecting the people, mostly kids and aged ones.
According to a newspaper report, many of the cold-related minors and adults have been admitted to different hospitals in the capital, general hospitals in the districts and the health complexes at upazila levels in the last several days. If a member of a family has fever, other members are also getting infected and falling sick. All the patients, who are visiting the hospitals, are suffering from various seasonal diseases like fever, cough and throat pain. It is difficult for the patients to know whether they are infected with the common flu caused by winter or dengue without a test. However, physicians advised them to go to hospitals and clinics to conduct tests for diagnosis of the diseases.
Meanwhile, a study report said that cold-related mortality was the highest in Rangpur Division (36.4 per cent) in the winter months of December, January and February during the period from 2009 to 2021. It identified several factors responsible for the highest number of deaths in this division, including minimum temperature, population density, and poverty and extreme poverty ratios. The lowest average daily temperatures in the winter months in Rangpur Division are due to its spatial proximity to the Himalayas in the north and its greater distance from the ocean in the south (the Bay of Bengal) compared to the other districts.  
With the advent of winter, we must all remain cautious about cold-related diseases. We must pay heed to doctors’ health guidelines. Apart from the cold weather, the dust pollution also causes serious diseases, including heart, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and even cancer during the winter. The authorities should issue instructions to government hospitals, health complexes and all other organisations at the field-level to make people conscious about cold-related diseases and provide treatment properly. They should also distribute warm clothes and blankets among the distressed people to mitigate their sufferings in advance. Apart from this, the well off sections of the society and different socio-economic organisations will also have to stand beside the cold affected people with warm clothes to help them as part of social responsibility.