Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain on Tuesday instructed hospitals to keep dengue patients under observation for four days after their fever subsides to prevent plasma leakage.
“Patients should not be allowed to leave even if they want to. If necessary, hospital gates should be kept closed with security personnel to ensure they remain under observation,” he said while speaking to journalists at the Munshiganj Deputy Commissioner’s office on Tuesday after a meeting with local public representatives and senior administrative officials.
The health minister said dengue is a mosquito-borne disease and a specific treatment protocol has been extended to all upazila-level health facilities. “Saline is the main treatment for dengue,” he said, adding that adequate supplies have been stocked at hospitals and treatment centres across the country.
He also urged people to remain alert, saying plasma leakage may occur at a certain stage of the disease and requires immediate treatment.
Earlier, after inspecting Gazaria Upazila Health Complex, the minister said no new clinics would be approved in front of government hospitals. Numerous diagnostic centres and clinics had been approved during the previous government and warned that existing facilities could also be shut if they failed to operate properly, he added.
The minister said work would begin in October to upgrade the Gazaria health complex from 50 to 151 beds. Within two years, it will also get a 10-patient dialysis unit, a modern pathology laboratory and separate physiotherapy centres for men and women, he added.
