#Title
DENGUE OUTBREAK
Saviour fails to survive
Young DMCH doctor who saved patients dies from the virus
HELEMUL ALAM and SHAHEEN MOLLAH
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.
Sharifa Binte Aziz Akhi, 27, passed away at the DMCH early yesterday.
The 27-year-old physician, a resident of Jaypara in Dhaka’s Dohar upazila, was admitted to a private hospital after being diagnosed with dengue.
She was moved to the intensive care unit of DMCH Thursday afternoon.
Sharifa, an FCPS part-II student, worked at the medicine department of the hospital, said DMCH Director Brig Gen Md Nazmul Haque.
On August 8, another physician Almina Dewan Mishu, 32, died of dengue at the same hospital.
Almina, an official from the 39th BCS batch, had been undergoing treatment at the DMCH ICU since August 1.
She was admitted to a private hospital with dengue fever on July 26. As her health deteriorated, she was moved to the public hospital.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) logged nine deaths in 24 hours preceding yesterday morning.
With this, the total number of deaths from dengue rose to 373 this year. Among the dead, 213 are females.
As many as 2,046 dengue patients were hospitalised across the country in the same 24-hour period, bringing the total number of cases to 80,074 this year.
HM Nazmul Ahsan, associate professor at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, said dengue patients should be immediately hospitalised if they suffer from severe stomach aches, breathing difficulties, severe weakness, vomiting, or bleeding from gums and nose.
“If a patient showing such symptoms is not hospitalised within 24 hours, he or she may have dengue shock syndrome,” he added.
Ilias Sikdar, father of minors Mim Akhtar and Jannatul Ferdous from Pubro Shewrapar, was finding it difficult to ensure the treatment of his children who were suffering from fever.
Mim, aged two and a half years, caught a fever a week ago while her sibling Jannatul, aged about one year, got the fever three days ago.
Ilias, an employee at a private company, took his two daughters to Dr MR Khan Shishu Hospital and Institute of Child Health in the capital’s Mirpur yesterday.
He spent Tk 2,500 to get the necessary tests done for his two children. Doctors recommended admitting Mim to the hospital, but Ilias could not do so due to a lack of money.
“I came here with Tk 2,000. I managed to bring another Tk 2,000 with the help of my brother in two hours, but that was not enough to get my elder daughter admitted to the hospital,” said Ilias.
He said he will have the test reports at 8:00pm today. After seeing those reports, doctors would decide on Jannatul’s admission.
Nazira Begum, mother of two-year-old Mahin, said her daughter had been undergoing treatment at the hospital
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