Diseases Break Out in Thakurgaon
Four children die, 500 more taken to hospital in a week
A mother having her child take medicine on the floor of Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital that struggles hard to provide service for a large number of child patients due to lack of accommodation and shortage of doctors and nurses.Photo: STAR
About five hundred child patients have been admitted to Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital and four upazila health complexes in the district as pneumonia, diarrhoea and cold related diseases went up due mainly to fluctuation of temperature during day and night. Four children died at Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital due to pneumonia and other cold related diseases in a week. They are Mili, 6, daughter of Abed Miah of Hariharpur village, Sifat, 4, son of Enamul Haque of Gorea village, Babu, 2, son of Karimuddin of Khochabari village in Sadar upazila and Niloy, 4, son of Shariful Islam of Nekmorad village in Ranishankoil upazila of the district. At present 112 patients are receiving treatment at the 18-seat capacity children's ward at Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital while about four hundred child patients are admitted to four upazila health complexes having a total of 60 seats. Many child patients have also been admitted to different clinics in the town. Besides, 250 to 300 patients are receiving treatment at the outdoors of the hospitals in the district every day. About 187 patients, mostly with respiratory problem and diarrhoea, received treatment at the outdoor of Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital on Thursday. During a visit to the hospital on Friday, this correspondent saw many child patients lying on the floor of the children's ward and on veranda. "I got my pneumonia-affected 14-month-old son admitted to the hospital Wednesday morning. We have to stay on the floor due to shortage of space in the children's ward," said Farida Pervin of Gobindanagarh village under Sadar upazila. Selina Begum, who took her 10-month-old baby to the hospital with symptoms of pneumonia and diarrhoea on Sunday, is staying on a space beside the staircase. She came from Kabirazhat village under Birganj upazila of Dinajpur district. "Child patients are coming to Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital in large numbers as there is no child specialist at the upazila level and in adjacent Panchagarh district. Many patients also come here from Birganj and Bochaganj upazilas of Dinajpur district," said Dr Shahjahan Nawaj, a consultant of Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital. "The number of child patients with pneumonia and diarrhoea is on the rise due to change of season and fluctuation of temperature during day and night. Only two nurses are working in the children's ward. It is very difficult for them to serve the increasing number of child patients," he said. If the patients come to hospital in time, they are likely to get proper treatment and recover soon, he added. "Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital, which is officially a 250-bed one, is run by inadequate staff, making it difficult to manage large number of patients. One more nurse will be engaged soon at the children's ward to tackle the situation," Civil Surgeon Dr Lokman Ali said.
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