Dengue outbreak
3 die, 1,157 hospitalised in 24 hours
Staff Reporter, Dhaka
Three more dengue patients died in Dhaka, Khulna and Mymensingh yesterday. Meanwhile, hospitals across the country admitted a large number of dengue patients yesterday. A total of 1,157 dengue patients were admitted to different hospitals in the last 24 hours across the country.
Of the new cases in the past 24 hours, a total of 551 patients had been hospitalised in Dhaka, whereas 606 patients had been admitted to hospitals outside Dhaka. According to the Directorate-General of Health Services (DGHS), the number of recorded cases in the first eight months of this year has hit 67,221.
The first dengue victims was identified as Hafizul Islam, 30, a ready-made garment worker from Trishal upazila. He died while being taken to Dhaka from the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH) yesterday morning. He was diagnosed with dengue when he was in Dhaka. He had returned home after receiving treatment at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Later, he went to the MMCH with high fever on Tuesday night. Doctors at the emergency suggested shifting him to the DMCH for better treatment. He died while being taken to Dhaka. The second victim, Shahida Begum, 50, wife of Saidur Rahman of Pirojpur, died of dengue at the Khulna Medical College Hospital yesterday. She was hospitalised with high fever on Tuesday.
The third victim was Ariful Islam, 34, also a ready-made garments worker. Son of Abdul Qader, from Munshiganj district, he died of dengue at the DMCH yesterday. He was suffering from high fever since last Saturday. He was admitted to the hospital as his condition deteriorated. He breathed his last while undergoing treatment yesterday. He used to live in a rented house in the Kadamtali Police Station area in the city.
A total of 61,822 patients have already been released from hospitals. This means, 90 per cent of the hospitalised dengue patients have gone home after treatment. The number of admitted patients currently undergoing treatment in government and private hospitals combined is 5,222, according to the DGHS data.
As many as 2,882 patients are currently receiving treatment in 41 government and private hospitals in the capital, whereas a total of 2,340 patients are undergoing treatment outside the capital, the has revealed.
Meanwhile, the DGHS analysed 88 out of 177 cases of death and confirmed 52 deaths to have been caused by the mosquito-borne disease.
We have scrutinised 88 dengue death cases and confirmed 52 dengue deaths so far. We have so far received information about the deaths of 177 people in the dengue outbreak. We are scrutinising the information to confirm whether the deaths had indeed been caused by dengue, said Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
Dr Ayesha Akhter, in charge of the disease control room at the Directorate of Health, said: Weve received a record number of dengue patients from across the country so far. This month, the number of dengue cases is much higher than that of last month. The number of dengue patients admitted to hospitals across the country is decreasing gradually.
She also said the health department had taken several initiatives to control the situation. If the initiatives taken by the DGHS work properly, the number of dengue patients will hopefully decrease further, she added.
