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Local hospitals struggling to treat dengue patients

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Reza Mahmud :
Upazila and district level hospitals are struggling to render medical treatment to huge number of dengue patients as the mosquito-borne disease is spreading widely in rural areas across the country.

Dengue patients in rural areas suffer severely to get adequate medical treatment from local hospitals like government upazila health complexes and district health facilities due to acute scarcity of saline, medical equipment and necessary doctors, sources said.

The patients and their families alleged that they are crying for shortage of saline as it is almost out of the local hospitals.

“There is no saline in Modhukhali upazila hospital. My sister Recitation Artist Gazi Bilkis Ara Zaman died on Saturday during taking treatment in the hospital due to scarcity of saline there,” Gazi Shamsuzzaman Khokon, a poet and teacher of Gazi Khorsheduzzaman Kinder Garten School of Boalmari, Faridpur told The New Nation.

He said such scenario is not only Modhukhali hospital but also in Boalmari upazila health complex.

Several others from different upazila also echoed the similar bitter experiences.

Momin Islam, 22, a resident of Anupampur village in Charghat, Rajshahi, was looking after his father and two sisters-in-law at the RMCH while his mother was sick with a fever, along with his two uncles and two more cousins.

Upazila health complexes in Rajshahi lack platelet tests, prompting critical patients to visit private diagnostic centres to count their platelets daily, sometimes twice a day.

Public health experts also said that the upazila and district level government hospitals have not adequate medicines, saline and other resources like physicians, assistants and logistics to give adequate medical treatment to the patients affected with the vector borne disease.

When contacted, Professor Dr. Be-Nazir Ahmed, former Director of Disease Control at Directorate General of Health Services told The New Nation, “The Upazila and district level government hospitals have no sufficient medicines, saline, medical equipment and specialists doctors to give necessary medical treatment to serious dengue patients.”

“Those hospitals have no ICU beds yet. The upazila hospitals have no sufficient doctors also. District hospitals have only one specialist doctor but have no assistant,” Professor Be-Nazir said.

When contacted, Professor Dr. M. Muzaherul Huq, former Advisor of the World Health Organisation (WHO), told The New Nation, “The  government should provide adequate amount of saline and other necessary things to local hospitals so that the patients would not rush to Dhaka for getting treatment.”

When contacted, Professor Dr. Md. Robed Amin,Line Director, NCDC, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), told The New Nation on Sunday that he is not right person to comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, Professor Dr. Nazmul Islam, spokesperson of DGHS could not reach while trying to get his comment in this regards over telephone.

Meanwhile, nine more deaths were reported from dengue in 24 hours to Sunday morning, raising the number of fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease in Bangladesh to 1,255 this year.

During the period, 2,056 more patients were hospitalised with the viral fever, according to the DGHS.

Among the new patients, 500 were admitted to hospitals in Dhaka and the rest outside the capital, indicating a worsening situation across the country.

A total of 7,677 dengue patients, including 2,189 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.

So far the DGHS has recorded 255,046 dengue cases and 246,114 recoveries this year.

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