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Diarrhoea figures on rise

Doctors blame waterlogging, temperature

Akram Hosen
The number of patients admitted to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) significantly increased in the last two weeks, staying above 500 on most days.
The figure usually hovers between 300 and 350. Till 7:00pm yesterday, the number was 415 and the hospital administration expected it to exceed 450 by midnight.
About 40 percent of the patients have cholera while the rest different forms of diarrhoea.
To cope with the influx, the administration of the diarrhoea] diseases unit, already having around 400 beds, set up another 100 beds under a tent at the hospital premises.
"Every year the number of patients peaks before and after the monsoon,” said Dr Azharul Islam Khan, chief physician and head of the diarrhoeal unit at ICDDR, B.
More people suffer from diarrhoea because of the incessant downpour, flood, waterlogging and the heat. "Majority of the patients who come here at the hospital suffer because of water contamination,” he said.
The supply water gets contaminated from leaks in pipes. 'As long as we don't have safe water supply at every corner of the country, we will have to live with occasional out-
breaks of diarrhoea and cholera," he said.
The government must treat the issue of contaminated water more seriously and do all it can to provide safe drinking water, he said.
Moreover, people of the lower income bracket always take street food, becoming the first victims when the humidity and temperature rise causes food to rot quickly and easily, he said.
He advised people to drink oral saline when they suspect to have diarrhoea and severe dehydration and frequently wash their hands with soap, especially before eating and after coming from the toilet.
The hospital authority also advised people to go to a hospital as soon as possible if drinking oral saline does not help. It also recommended people to boil water before consumption and to avoid street foods and juices if they can help it.
"Since we cannot change all the things that cause diarrhoea, we have to learn how not to die from it," they said.
The highest number of patients to have been admitted this season was 608 on September 1, informed Ramzan Ali, coordinator of the hospital.
Moreover, the highest number of patients to have come from one area on a single day was 43 from Narayanganj on Friday, he said.