The dengue fever has taken a worst turn this time around, breaking all records with over 5000 cases being recorded in July alone.
Although the government has recorded five deaths from the menace so far, the unofficial numbers according to various hospitals and relatives of patients stand at 28.
The government’s Health Emergency Operations Centre and Control Room says that they receive the statistics and information from the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
Several experts, however, have said that IEDCR fails to provide statistics when it’s most needed.
They say that weeks go by and the institution keep discussions ongoing by which time it is too late and the problem takes a turn for the worse.
Experts said that if IEDCR could have predicted the trend of dengue this time, it would have been much easier to plan in advance.
They added that the government agency has failed in ticking the most important boxes, when it comes to surveillance: epidemic detection, prediction, and monitoring.
Responding to queries on why the deaths were not recorded with the government, Ayesha Akhter, additional director of the Emergency Operations Centre and Control Room, said that they receive the information from IEDCR.
“They have a separate death review committee who are responsible for publishing these figures,” she said.
She added that while the Emergency Operations Centre is aware about the un-recorded deaths from dengue, there’s nothing they can do as the whole process is controlled by IEDCR.
IEDCR Director and committee chief Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora didn’t respond to phone calls or messages when Bangla Tribune tried to reach for comments.
Several employees at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), wishing to remain anonymous, said that they are unaware of whether IEDCR carried out any kind of mapping last year.
According to them, had it been carried out, they could have figured out how many people were affected in a particular area and whether they shifted.
They were even unaware of how information on patients admitted to and released from hospitals or those not admitted were collected.
Rights activist Rashid-e-Mahbub, who runs the Shasthya Adhikar Andolan, said that the government has completely failed in stamping out Aedes mosquitoes and should now focus on providing people with the proper information.
Dengue statistics
According to the Health Emergency Operations Centre and Control Room, in the last 24 hours from Jul 22, as many as 473 patients with dengue have checked into 13 government hospitals in Dhaka. The number was 131 for private hospitals.
A total of 7,766 people have been admitted to private and state-owned hospitals since January this year.
Bangla Tribune found that Hashi Somaddar, a nurse by profession, died of dengue shock syndrome at Dhaka’s Labaid Hospital last week. The government has no record of her death.
The same way there is no record of the four patients who died of dengue at Mohakhali’s Universal Medical College Hospital.
Police Hospital Director Dr ABM Sharif confirmed the death of one Zakia Sultana who died on Jun 19.
The health directorate doesn’t have any record of her death, the same way it has no record of the deaths of 5-year-old Sabukun Nahar who died on Jun 24, 7-year-old Irteza Sahad Prattay who died on Jul 5, and Labanya Alina who died on Jul 15.
Dengue more dangerous this time
Doctors now recommend seeking a consult immediately upon contracting a fever instead of waiting the standard three days, as the fever has changed both in terms of pattern and symptom.
They also recommend not neglecting the fever even after the recovery.
Up until now, extremely high fever, rashes, vomiting tendencies used to be considered symptoms of the fever but it is no longer the case.
Doctors said that dengue fever has taken a formidable turn as this time the heart, kidneys and brain are being affected sending the patient into shock. They said that most dengue victims have lost their lives to ‘dengue shock syndrome.’
They said that dengue shock syndrome caused the blood pressure to fall to dangerous levels sending the patient into multiple organ failure which ultimately leads to their deaths.
According to them, there has been a definite rise in the number of dengue patients this year around and children are more at risk.