Health experts fear that the dengue fever in the country may take a serious turn as a substantial number of such cases have already been reported this year.
Raising a fresh round of alarm, they urge the government to take appropriate measures in combating the mosquito-borne disease that has claimed at least 20 lives and infected around 1,500 people in two and a half months this year.
The record shows that 1566 people have been infected with the dengue virus from January 1 to March 18. Of them, 527 became infected in Dhaka while 1039 were infected outside the capital.
About 3 lakh people were infected last year alone, breaking a 23-year record of patients infected with the virus. The country had a record of 2.5 lakh dengue patients in the last 23 years since its outbreak in 2000.
The ministry said that some 20 got infected on March 18. Of them, seven are from Dhaka while 13 are from other parts of the country.
A division-wise statistic shows that some 745 people were infected in Dhaka Division in the current year while 455 in Chattogram Division, 190 in Barishal Division, 93 in Khulna Division, 36 in Rajshahi Division, 28 in Mymensingh Division, 13 in Rangpur Division and six in Sylhet Division.
Under the circumstances, Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen told reporters on Tuesday that authorities concerned had been directed to make all hospitals across the country ready to provide treatment to dengue-infected patients.
“A directive has been given to make all hospitals ready. Whenever any gets infected with the dengue virus, he/she should be admitted immediately. Many cause delays while receiving treatment. Such delay increases the risk,” he told reporters after an inter-ministerial meeting at the health ministry.
He said the number of dengue cases last year crosses the number of patients treated over the last 23 years.
“Some 3 lakh people got infected last year alone while the number of patients was 2.5 lakh in last 23 years.
This was a figure of patients who received treatment at hospitals. There might be more number of patients who did not get admitted in hospitals,” he said.
Urging all to remain aware of the dengue virus, he said, “We have to kill mosquitoes on one hand to resist the dengue virus, on the other hand, we have to remain alert to reduce the pace of the epidemic.”
Calling upon all to raise awareness in their respective areas, he also stressed the need to procure quality pesticides to kill the mosquitoes.
State Minister for Health Rokeya Sultana, Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Fazle Noor Tapos, Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam, Health Ministry Secretary Jahangir Alam, Health Directorate Director General ABM Khurshid Alam, BMA President Mostafa Jalal Mahiuddin and PM’s physician
Professor ABM Abdullah, among others, attended the meeting with health minister Samanta Lal in the chair.
Rokeya Sultana said that the city corporation must visit every house to run the inspection of whether any house has an existence of larvae.
If anyone does not go by the rule, he/she must be brought to penalised, she said.
DSCC mayor said dengue-infected patients must be treated timely and people must be provided with the correct information.
DNCC mayor stressed the need for working together in resisting the dengue virus.
“The way we faced the coronavirus, we will be able to tackle the dengue virus,” he said, adding that they
would be more aware while buying pesticides to kill mosquitoes.
Addressing the meeting, some experts, however, said that there is no way to eliminate the dengue virus rather we can control it through vaccination.
Speaking on the use of pesticides, experts said that it is important to use pesticides correctly to kill the vector.