Daily dengue hospitalisation crosses 300 in Bangladesh

Daily dengue hospitalisation  crosses 300 in Bangladesh

The daily number of hospitalised dengue patients on Tuesday crossed 300 for the first time this year as major health facilities in Dhaka kept struggling to manage dengue patients amid the Covid outbreak.

A total of 329 dengue patients, including 306 in Dhaka, were hospitalised in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, according to Health Emergency Operation Centre and Control Room of the Directorate General of Health Services data.

The daily number of hospitalised dengue patients had remained 200 for the past few weeks before crossing 300 on Tuesday, said Kamrul Kibria, an assistant director at the DGHS.

The overall number of hospitalised patients has reached 6,650 with the death of 26 people from the mosquito-borne viral disease so far since January.

Twelve patients died in July and 14 in August.

Among the total hospitalised patients, 6,297 or 95 per cent of the patients have been hospitalised in Dhaka city, creating an additional burden of patients on most hospitals in the city at a time when many of the hospitals are struggling to manage Covid patients and some are not admitting dengue patients in the coronavirus crisis.

The month of August is the most crucial for dengue infection as about 4,000 patients have been hospitalised this month.

Currently, 1,114 dengue patients are undergoing treatment in different hospitals, mostly in the capital.

A total of 197 patients are undergoing treatment in Sir Salimullah Medical College Mitford Hospital Tuesday morning and among the patients, many are children, said the hospital assistant registrar Mizanur Rahman.

The 900-bed hospital is now treating more than 1,100 admitted patients.

mj/