The tally of cold-related deaths maintained by the government does not include those caused by burns from fire lit by people to keep warm. But such burns are commonplace and claim lives every other day, especially in the Rangpur division where many people are not adequately clothed to face the country’s lowest minimum temperatures for weeks.
At least nine people have died of similar burns at the RMCH since December 16, when the first cold wave hit the country and continued to sweep through northern areas and pockets of western and central Bangladesh until Monday. On Monday, a woman and a seven-year-old child died at Rangpur Medical College Hospital of burns they suffered while basking in fire they lit to keep warm.
The woman, Rozina, 42, of Boldipukur under Mithapukur in Rangpur had to endure unbearable pain of burn injuries for eight days while it went a bit less painful for the child, Gafur Miah, of Ulipur in Kurigram, who had suffered burns in a hay fire on Sunday morning. Rangpur civil surgeon Hirambar Kumar Roy told the media, “Just like every other winter our burn unit is overflowing with people who would not have been here had they got enough warm clothes to wear.”
All the 31 RMCH burn-unit patients suffered their injuries in hay fires lit outside home or in bran fire kept overnight under the bed for warmth. RMCH director Shahadat Hossain was no stranger to this seasonal epidemic of burn deaths. Last year he saw 37 people die in front of his eyes because of similar injuries.
“These people are the poorest in the country and help never came by their way,” said Shahadat. In country’s northern rural areas houses are mostly built of bamboo and thatch and materials that are not suitable for blocking chilly cold winds blowing from the north on and off throughout winter.
This winter is turning out to be one of the coldest in years with the country remaining under persisting cold waves for nearly two weeks in a row. Northern Bangladesh is the worst-hit with the country’s lowest minimum temperature on Monday recorded at Tetulia at 5°C, slightly up from 4.5°C, the season’s lowest, on Sunday.
The Met Office said that the overall temperatures followed a downward trend with the cold wave spreading to Khulna and Sylhet divisions from Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions in the 24 hours ending on Monday morning. “The weather condition will remain somewhat the same until rains come on Friday,” said meteorologist Monwar Hossain.
Then the temperatures would drop another round from December 5 or 6, he said. January is the second and the coldest winter month in Bangladesh. Meteorologists consider December the first month of the three-month-long winter. Pockets of northern Bangladesh, however, experience intense cold earlier, some of them as early as the first week of November.
The Health Emergency Operation Centre and Control Room said that at least 49 people died of cold-related diseases, mostly in northern areas, in November. Only one cold-related death was reported in December. The cold-related diseases include respiratory problems, diarrhoea, jaundice and fever.
“Although deaths from hay-fire burns are accidents but they surely do have a direct relation with cold weather,” said Ayesha Akter, in-charge, the health emergency control room. “We will try to get a count on that soon,” she said. The other northern areas where people die from hay-fire burns include Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Thakurgaon, Kurigram.
The control room said that 2,88,777 people were admitted to government hospitals or treated for cold-related diseases across Bangladesh since November. The control room campaigns emphasise the importance of keeping warm during cold but the government response to help the poor was far from adequate.
“I received no winter relief—not a single piece of cloth from the government so far,” said Habibur Rahman, chairman, Mogholhat union parishad, Lalmonirhat.