Health Secretary Anwar Hossain Howlader has alerted hospitals over a possibility of a sharp rise in dengue cases leading to a shortage of beds.
He advised the hospitals to make preparations and open separate units for dengue patients, if needed, in a meeting on the prevention and control of the mosquito-borne disease at the Directorate General of Health Services on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
“Patients are coming in but there are not enough seats. And we can’t send them back. We are giving them treatment by keeping them on the floor,” Anwar said.
The number of dengue hospitalisations this year has crossed 26,000 while the official death toll reached 96. Nearly 10,000 of them were hospitalised and 41 died in the first 17 days of October.
On Monday, 3,004 dengue patients were receiving treatment in the hospitals across Bangladesh, including 2,015 in Dhaka.
Anwar said rains gave a rise to the mosquito population leading the number of dengue patients to increase. “We don’t know when the rains will stop. Dengue cases will fall if the situation improves. But currently the trend is upward.”
He recalled the surge of dengue cases that overwhelmed the hospitals in 2019. “It was a disaster across the country. We can’t let that happen again. We must be alert in hospital management.”
More than 130,000 people were diagnosed with dengue in 2019 after over 24,000 cases in six years from 2013 to 2018, according to government data.
In 2020, a total of 1,405 people contracted the disease at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Health Secretary Anwar said the hospitals will have to make mosquito nets mandatory and keep nets for the patients who do not have one.
