Dengue data dearth impairs health experts
Dengue became endemic in the country in 2000, but the government is yet to put in place an automated system that comes up with the exact number of cases, crucial to get a clear picture of the situation.
Entomologists said knowing the exact number of cases is very important to check Aedes mosquito -- carrier of dengue and chikungunya viruses -- in a more scientific way.
"Identifying all dengue cases and conducting anti-mosquito drives in and around houses and workplaces of the patients early in the season is very important to control Aedes mosquitoes," said entomologist Prof Kabirul Bashar.
He said if the authorities fail to destroy mosquito breeding hotspots, the number of dengue cases would continue to rise. "So, introduction of an automation system for recording cases is very important."
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) collects data only from 41 hospitals and clinics across the country. However, the number of hospitals, clinics, and diagnostics centres is around 9,000, including about 5,800 diagnostic centres.
The experts said most of the dengue positive cases are not included in the DGHS statistics as data of most of the hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres is left out.
They also said statistics of dengue patients who take treatment at home is also not included in the DGHS data.
According to the health directorate, at least 203 dengue patients were hospitalised in 24 hours preceding 8:00am yesterday. Of them, 33 were admitted to healthcare facilities outside Dhaka.
With the new cases, a total of 1,139 people have been diagnosed with the disease this month.
This takes the total number of this year's dengue cases to 19,336 in the country. Among them, 2,527 were reported outside Dhaka.
The virus has claimed 73 lives this year so far.
Experts suggested introducing an automated system like that of Covid-19 so that information about any patient who would test positive for dengue can be included in the DGHS data.
"The actual number of dengue patients would be 10 times higher than the DGHS figures as cases of only 41 hospitals are recorded by the health directorate," said Bashar.
He said his four relatives were receiving treatment at home which would not be included in the DGHS data.
Statistics collected by The Daily Star shows that at least 1,745 dengue patients were admitted to 10 hospitals and clinics in the capital from August 1 to September 15.
Of them, 85 were admitted to Dr MR Khan Shishu Hospital and Institute of Child Health from September 7 to 13, and 35 were admitted to AMZ Hospital Ltd in Badda, 60 to Al-Raji Hospital, 208 to CARe Medical College Hospital and 120 to Aalok Healthcare and Hospital in Mirpur in the first two weeks of September.
At least 469 dengue patients were admitted to Islami Bank Hospital in Mirpur from August 1 to September 15. The number was 665 in BIHS General Hospital, 107 in Dhaka Central International Medical College Hospital in Shyamoli and 200 in Al-Helal Specialised Hospital during the same period.
Cases of all the 10 hospitals and clinics are not included in the DGHS data.
According to the Communicable Disease Act-2018, if anyone gets infected with a communicable disease, he will have to inform the government. So, it is also the duty of a citizen to inform the government about communicable diseases, Bashar said.
Entomologist Manzur A Chowdhury, former chairman of Zoological Society of Bangladesh, said they think the DGHS figure of 19,336 cases was a very conservative estimate as it would be more than three lakh, including about 40,000 cases from outside Dhaka.
"Four big public hospitals in the capital were turned into Covid-19 dedicated hospitals during the spike in infections. At that time, many dengue patients were afraid of going to hospitals," he said.
Manzur said Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Pakistan face serious problems as dengue is a notifiable disease in those countries.
Doctors there report cases to the respective governments through a reporting procedure just after finding new cases, he said.
When a small number of people get infected with dengue at the beginning of the season, the authorities concerned as well as people do not pay much attention to control Aedes mosquitoes. But it is important to report all dengue cases since the very beginning so that authorities can take actions to control Aedes mosquitos, Manzur added.
Mohammad Zannat Ali, deputy director (hospital and admin) at DR MR Khan Shishu Hospital and Institute of Child Health, said: "We gave the data to the DGHS every day. We don't know why our data is not included in the DGHS statistics."
An official of the DGHS control room, however, claimed they do not receive data from these 10 hospitals and clinics.
DGHS Additional Director General (administration) Dr Nasima Sultana said all reported dengue cases are included in the DGHS data.
She said they have instructed all hospitals and clinics to provide them with dengue data on a regular basis, but they are not getting reports from all.
Nasima said they have plans to bring dengue statistics under an automation system in future.
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