Dhaka is witnessing one of the worst diarrhoea outbreaks in recent times as 29 people died from the disease in the last month.
Of them, 25 people were already dead before arriving at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh (icddr,b) while four died during treatment.
From March 16 to 2pm yesterday, a total 34,388 patients were admitted to icddr,b.
The hospital has been seeing an average of 1,400 patients per day, which means one diarrheal patient is getting admitted to icddr,b every minute on average.
From 12 midnight to 12 midday yesterday, a further 685 diarrhoea patients were admitted to icddr,b.
Since the beginning of the second week of March this year, the number of diarrhoea patients has been on the rise.
The highest number of daily diarrhoea admissions was on April 4, with 1,383 people getting admitted at icddr,b. This number continued till April 8. From April 9, the figure started to gradually go down.
Most of the patients come from Dhaka’s Jatrabari, Gendaria, Shonir Akhra, Khilgaon, and Mohammadpur as well as other nearby districts from Narayanganj and Gazipur.
According to data from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 461,611 patients have been admitted to hospitals for diarrhoea across the country in the last three months.
In those three months, 159,247 were affected in Dhaka and a total of 55,926 admitted only at icddr,b while a total of 32,186, 51,596, 37,603, 34,819,101,819, 11,843 and 32,938 patients were admitted in Mymensingh, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet, in that order.
Current situation at icddr,b
According to Dr Baharul Alam, icddr,b is still receiving around 1,200 patients for the last three days in a row, with the majority of patients stabilized and released within 24 hours.
According to him, the hospital has around 450 beds and does not have the capacity to accommodate so many patients at the same time. As a result, they discharge approximately half of the patients every day, once they are stable.
On the other hand, icddr,b has opened two makeshift field hospitals to cope with the pressure of patients.
“We are hopeful as we are getting fewer patients for the last three days. These diarrhoea outbreaks generally last six to eight weeks and approximately more than four weeks have already passed,” he said, adding that the diarrhoea outbreak will likely continue till the rains arrive.
"We can't say when this outbreak will end on a certain date. However, we have noticed that heavy rainfall removes all of the diarrhoeal viruses from the air," he said.
“We didn’t see this many patients in the last two years as people tried to maintain personal hygiene due to Covid-19. But now people don’t fear about Covid-19 anymore which is why perhaps they started to continue their previous lifestyle,” he further continued.
What is responsible for this outbreak
Many experts blamed WASA for the diarrhoea outbreak in the city.
Public health expert Dr Lenin Chowdhury said: “Currently, 1,500 patients are getting admitted at the government and private hospitals on average across the country and water pollution is responsible for this.
“The water of WASA is not drinkable. To prevent this problem, WASA needs to supply drinkable water," he added.
Another public health expert Biddut Barmun, who works at Chittagong Medical University, said: "Poor people come from rural areas. They think that they will get better treatment if they get admitted at the large hospitals. And it takes around five hours to reach those hospitals, something which will result in death."
What to do when facing diarrhoea
Dr Bahar advised patients to seek treatment from nearby medical hospitals before coming to icddr,b and not to let the condition become severe.
"Diarrhoea is not a life-threatening disease unless you delay treatment. As a result, there is no need to visit Mohakhali right away. The treatment for this ailment is well-known among doctors, so people should go to medical centres near their homes as soon as possible,” he said.
He discouraged eating roadside food and taking antibiotics while advising people to drink purified water.
He also advised patients to drink lots of fluids.
