Helemul Alam

As a doctor, she helped many patients to recover from dengue infection at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. But she herself could not beat the virus.

With her health improving, two-year-old Mayamanat Islam Sadia was spending her time playing with a balloon on her bed at the dengue ward of Mugda Medical College and Hospital.

Rafia, a 14-year-old girl battling dengue, finds herself caught in a distressing predicament within the healthcare system of Dhaka.

Twenty-year-old Mohammad Sakib was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Sunday as he was experiencing severe weakness -- a dengue symptom that is considered a “warning sign”.

At least 17,651 dengue patients were hospitalised in the first week of August, which is five times higher than the number of cases in the first week of July and 24 times of that in June.

Three-year-old Omar Faruk was having seizures when his father Enamul Haque brought him to Bangladesh Shishu Hospital around 2:30pm yesterday.

With 10 new deaths recorded yesterday, the total number of dengue fatalities this year has risen to 283 – making this the deadliest dengue year since the first outbreak in the year 2000.

The ongoing intermittent rain, particularly in Dhaka, will worsen the dengue situation if the authorities fail to take the necessary steps to kill adult mosquitoes and destroy all breeding sources, entomologists said.

After 19-year-old Mohammad Masud was diagnosed with dengue a few days ago, he returned to his Pirojpur home to stay with his parents.

Asma Begum took her five-year-old son and a 12-year-old relative, both suffering from fever, to get their NS1 and CBC tests, required to determine dengue, at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, as per doctor’s advice, on Thursday.

July has turned out to be the deadliest month since the outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease in the country way back in 2000.

With 10 new deaths recorded yesterday, 178 people have died from dengue just in the month of July.

As a deadly dengue outbreak tightens its grip across the country, an escalating number of lives are being claimed each day.

With the city hospitals struggling to accommodate a growing number of dengue patients, deaths from the viral fever are increasing at a higher rate compared to the previous years.

It is the only hospital in the country that was declared by the government to be for dengue patients

The country has been grappling with an alarming surge in dengue-related fatalities this July, with 99 deaths already recorded within the first 19 days of the month.

Late hospital admissions and negligence in timely doctor visits are believed to be the reasons why patients aged between 18 and 40 are the worst affected age-group in the ongoing dengue outbreak, experts said.

Sazedur Rahman, 40, a resident of Gaibandha, had been suffering from fever since the last week of June.

The Dhaka city corporations seem to have learned little from the past when it comes to controlling Aedes mosquitoes, as early measures were not taken to avert this year’s deadly dengue outbreak, experts say.

As dengue cases continue to increase across the country, Sir Salimullah Medical College Mitford Hospital, like other city hospitals, is struggling with the mounting pressure of patients for the past week.