A long line of women caring for their sick children can be seen at the emergency department of Dhaka Shishu Hospital. The queue moved at a snail’s pace as the children grew more and more unwell.
Some parents attempted to cut in line in a bid to speed up the care of their kids. It led to chaos. Security guards were hard-pressed trying to maintain any kind of order.
Most of the children who came to the hospital were running a fever. As dengue rampages across Bangladesh, the hospital has seen a rush of patients.
Parents say they were hurrying to the hospital the moment their children showed signs of illness, fearing it would be the dreaded dengue.
”My son caught a fever suddenly. He tested positive for dengue and received treatment at home. But we had to hospitalise him after his platelet count dropped,” said Asma Begum, the mother of 9-year-old Tahmid, who lives in Mirpur-11.
“Many people are dying from dengue this year. I was so terrified that I admitted my child immediately.”
Like her, many others from neighbouring areas have brought their children to the hospital.
The hospital staff is struggling to cope with the deluge of dengue patients, meaning that many have to wait for extended periods for their medical tests.
On Saturday, a long line of patients and attendants stretched in front of the medical report collection booth. Some said they had been waiting as long as three hours.
Hosna Ara said her daughter had dengue ten months ago but had recently caught another fever. She quickly arranged a dengue test and came to the hospital to collect the report. She stood in line at 1 pm. At 3:30 pm, she was still waiting.
“How can I attend to other tasks when I have to wait so long for a report?” she said, frustrated.
Dr Jahangir Alam, a director at the hospital, said there was a spike in patients, but no accompanying increase in the medical staff, which is why they are finding it difficult to provide proper service.
“The number of patients has jumped. We’re trying our best to serve them by giving emergency treatment to two patients at a time instead of one. But even then, many are forced to queue as more and more patients pour in,” he said.
The staff is small compared to the rush of patients, he added.
As of Saturday evening, 115 dengue patients were admitted to the hospital. Nine of them are in the ICU.
