Over the past two weeks, the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh (icddr,b) has either admitted or treated more than 19,000 diarrhoea patients from different districts.
On Thursday alone, as many as 1,285 patients had arrived here, down from Wednesday’s 1,331.
Between March 16 and 31, icddr,b saw a total of 19,441 diarrhoea patients — breaking all previous records.
According to hospital data, it is seeing an average of 1,300 patients every day. March 28 had seen the highest number of patients - 1,334.
Most of the patients are being released within 24 hours after they are in stable condition. However, the queue of patients is not shortening, according to AKM Tariful Islam Khan, media manager of icddr,b.
"During the flood of 2007, approximately 1,050 patients were admitted to the icddr,b on a daily basis and that was the highest. Compared to that, the number has really climbed this year,” he said, citing the exponential rise of Dhaka's population in the last 13 years as one of the key reasons behind the increasing number of cases.
Khan also said 80% of Acute Watery Diarrhoea patients in the current outbreak were adults.
He could not provide the exact number of patients hospitalized daily but hoped the diarrhoea outbreak would subside after Ramadan starts.
"Diarrhoea is mainly transmitted through contaminated water and food. During Ramadan, the consumption of food or water drops on a daily basis. So, historically, diarrhoea outbreak has always been lower at this time," he explained, adding that the trend would continue until the weather cools.
"We have some 450 beds and all of them are now occupied. However, icddr,b was prepared as we anticipated this outbreak based on 60 years of experience. We have erected tents on hospital premises and are treating patients there to cope with the extra pressure,” he said when asked about the bed capacity.
Three more weeks?
"Around 600-620 people are currently admitted at the hospital," said Dr Baharul Alam, the institution's director.
“Aside from beds, we have constructed two tents. Tent-1 has 89 patients and Tent-2 has 50 patients. In addition, there are 30-40 patients on the hospital balcony. However, today we are adding 40 extra beds on the western side of tent-1 because the scenario is expected to last at least three more weeks,” he said, mentioning that these outbreaks usually last six weeks and that three weeks have already elapsed.
He also said that in the first week of March this year, an average of 500 patients were hospitalized per day, rising to 600 in the second week.
"Working-class people like rickshaw pullers don't usually fast. As a result, they will continue to eat roadside food. Drinking pure water and avoiding roadside food are the only ways to avoid diarrhoea," Dr Bahar said.
He urged all to not eat antibiotics and suggested drinking Orsaline.
icddr,b records show that there has been no death from diarrhoea at the hospital yet, but a significant number of patients were dying on the way to get treatment.
Dr Bahar advised patients to seek treatment from nearby medical hospitals before coming to icddr,b.
"Diarrhoea is not a life-threatening disease. There is no need to come to icddr,b right away. The treatment for this ailment is well-known among doctors,” he said, adding that such patients are more likely to die on the road due to the traffic congestion in Dhaka before reaching the hospital.
