The ongoing cold wave that met office says is moderate and normal for this time of the year, has been wreaking havoc in the northern and north-eastern districts of the country for several days.
At least three babies have died over the last seven days from various cold-related diseases; aged people in these areas are also equally suffering from the extreme cold.
Our correspondents have reported that the hospitals in some of these districts are experiencing a sudden spike in the number of patients and struggling to ensure proper healthcare even for a small percentage of them because of shortcomings in infrastructure and resources.
Yesterday, this season’s lowest 6.7 degree Celsius temperature was recorded in the northern district of Rajshahi.
In Ishwardi, Rangpur and Dinajpur – three other districts further north – the mercury yesterday hit 7.2, 8 and 7.6 degree Celsius respectively. In the Dhaka Metropolitan area, the lowest temperature was 13.4 degree.
Met office says the situation will remain unchanged over the next few days because of the thick blanket of fog that has covered almost the entire country. Once the fog starts thinning, temperature will rise again.
According to the met office, 8-10 degrees is a mild cold wave, 6-8 degrees moderate and temperature below 6 degrees is considered severe cold wave.
Recently, two babies – 11-month-old Sabbir and 18-month-old Sifat – died from winter diarrhoea at the Gaibandha Sadar Hospital which also has 29 other babies admitted in different wards.
Another 18-month-old baby named Mithu died at the Kurigram Sadar Hospital early yesterday morning.
Dr Nazrul Islam, resident medical officer of the hospital, said Mithu was suffering from birth-aesthesia disease which gets triggered by cold.
A total of 194 patients including 52 children are being treated for various cold-related diseases at the Kurigram Sadar Hospital yesterday, the doctor said.
Our correspondent in the eastern district of Moulvibazar reports that a total of 23 patients got admitted with various cold-related diseases in the local government hospital on Friday; of them, eight are children.
In the south-western district of Jessore, more than 50 patients are currently admitted to the local district hospital. Mahfuzur Rahman, a doctor at the hospital, said most of the patients are children.
Quoting hospital sources, our Jessore correspondent reports that because there is not enough space to accommodate so many people, they are having to keep some of them on the floor in the wards and also in the corridors.
In Panchagarh, one of the northernmost districts of the country, day labourers and rickshaw-pullers having been finding it hard to make a living.
Because of the extreme chill, most of the economic activities in the district have come to a standstill; as a result, day labourers cannot find any work. As people have stopped going outdoors unless there is an emergency, rickshaw-pullers are suffering from a severe lack of passengers.
Although several government and non-governmental organisations have been distributing blankets and warm clothes among the poor people in these districts, the amount has been very inadequate compared to demand.
As people throng the roadside stalls looking for warm clothes, seller have raised the price even of used clothes.
Mizanur Rahman, an old clothes trader in Panchagarh, told out correspondent that they are selling old clothes at high prices because they purchased them at high prices in Sayedpur and Dhaka.
In another northern district of Joypurhat, the local office of the Department of Agricultural Extension circulated a leaflet among farmers, advising them to remain careful so that the extreme chill does not harm the seed-beds of Boro paddy.
