Spread of dengue feared as many patients go unreported

Many dengue patients in Dhaka and across the country are going unreported as the government collect patients’ information from only 41 hospitals out of over 3,000, including 64 government healthcare facilities in Dhaka, increasing the risk of spread of the fever.

Officials of both Dhaka South City Corporation and Dhaka North City Corporation said that they have no mechanism of collecting such information from hospitals although mosquito control was one of their main responsibilities.

They said that the DGHS provide them information if they asked though they believed that immediate tracing of dengue patients were very important for controlling the Aedes mosquito-borne disease.

DSCC deputy chief health officer Mir Mustafizur Rahman said that the hospitals are under the health ministry, not under the city corporation so they could not oblige them to provide dengue patient-related information.

‘We are trying to establish mutual cooperation with them so that the hospitals give us information on patients,’ he said.

Entomologists said that government should declare dengue as ‘reportable disease’ obliging the hospitals and clinics to provide them dengue patients’ information.

They said that underreported dengue was much dangerous as it could spread rapidly for not taking actions against it.

According to health department report so far 354 dengue patients were identified in Dhaka this year till July.

Entomologists said that this year the number of unreported dengue patients became high as the government hospitals who provided dengue treatment remained busy with COVID-19 patients.

Jahangirnagar University professor and vector management expert Kabirul Bashar said that the government statistics did not represent the real scenario of dengue.

Due to city corporations’ drives, increased public awareness and prolonged stay at home, the number of dengue patients was certainly low, yet many patients remained unreported, he said.

He explained that many patients did not go to hospitals, many were even denied treatment amid the COVID-19 emergency.

Dengue treatment remained suspended in Dhaka Medical College Hospital as the hospital has been busy responding to COVID-19 patients since the onset of the crisis.

Dhaka Medical College Hospital director Brig Gen AKM Nasir Uddin said that due to COVID-19 patients they couldn’t admit dengue patients in the DMCH where last year about 8,000 dengue patient received treatment.

‘Dengue is not a serious issue now, so we are referring them to other hospitals,’ said the director, adding that fearing outbreak they were preparing beds for 200 patients.

Ashraful Alam Shohel, a resident of Kathalbagan told New Age that he could not have a test done for dengue after making frantic efforts but could not take admission in any hospital as the hospitals denied admission without a COVID-19 test report.

Like Ashraful, Chankharpool resident Al Zahid was infected with dengue when his colleague Morsheda Jahan, a resident of Monipuri Para, also came down with dengue.

Zahid said that they tested in private hospitals which don’t report to the government, or the government never usually collects such information from them.

Debate for Democracy founding chairmen and also resident of capital’s Mohammadpur Hassan Ahamed Chowdhury Kiron demanded dengue ward in all possible hospitals soon so that dengue patients could get proper treatment.

Entomologist and former president of the Zoological Society Bangladesh, Manjur A Chowdhury, said that dengue case identification was very important for combating dengue.

‘Dengue fever should be declared as reportable disease,’ he said.

DNCC after a 10-day-long drive against dengue found that over 60 per cent houses in Dhaka are potential Aedes breeding grounds and in 0.69 per cent houses its larvae were found.

Although in July 2019, National Malaria Elimination and ATD Control Programme under DGHS found larvae in 13.62 per cent houses.

Compered to the potentiality and the actual presence of larvae in houses, the number of infected persons seems drastically low, said entomologists.

They said that it might be for COVID-19 as people were denied admission to hospitals.

In 2019, over 1,01,354 dengue cases were hospitalised and over 276 deaths were reported.

In 2017, over 13,000 chikunguniya-infected people took treatment at hospitals while a large number of patients took treatment at home.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net