Ctg hospitals see increased inflows of patients as temperature drops
With the fall in temperature, a large number of children affected by cold related complications have been admitted to the paediatric ward at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) and private clinics in the city over the past few days. Most of them contracted pneumonia, asthma, and bronchitis, while some had diarrhoea, a disease caused in infants by Rota virus, which gets active in winter.
Mohsena Begum took her six-month-old daughter to the CMCH on Wednesday from Banshkhali upazila as the baby had been suffering from serious breathing difficulties.
“My baby was first admitted to Banshkhali Upazila Health Complex, but later was shifted to the CMCH as her health deteriorated,” said Mohsena. The baby girl was seen occasionally wheezing under the oxygen mask put on her mouth.
With a similar problem, another six-month-old baby boy was brought to the hospital from Chandanaish upazila. The baby did not recover from breathing complications although he was treated locally, said his mother Shamim Akhter.
As the mercury dropped in Chittagong as elsewhere in the country in the past week, many children contracted cold-related diseases and were admitted to hospitals. The temperature in the port city has been hovering around 13.9 degrees Celsius.
Dr Pranab Kumar Chowdhury, assistant professor at the child health department of the CMCH, said children below five years old faced risks of contracting different diseases in extreme cold. Fifty children were admitted to the hospital on Thursday, with half of them having either pneumonia or diarrhoea, he added.
An increased inflow of children suffering from similar complications has been reported in Chattagram Ma O Shishu General Hospital.
Dr Mahmud A Chowdhury Arju, professor of paediatrics at the hospital, said, “We have 250 beds in the Child Health Ward which has been outnumbered by patients. So we had to accommodate them in less-busy wards like the eye and ear, nose and throat (ENT).” On Thursday, the hospital had 265 admitted patients.
He cautioned parents against Rota virus and advised that mothers must breastfeed their babies. “It’ll help create antibodies in the body of the infant,” he said, adding that parents should consult doctors if their babies start suffering from breathing problems.
The scenes at private clinics were not different either. CMCH paediatrician Dr Pranab said most of the patients he had treated over more than a week reported cold related problems.
Dr Rezaul Karim, head of the child health department at the CMCH, said malnourished children were more vulnerable to diseases like pneumonia.
Against the backdrop of the recent rush of patients to hospitals, he stressed the need for introducing more facilities, an ICU at the child ward in particular, for treating critical patients.
For lack of an intensive care unit, the hospital cannot deliver proper services to many children. In such cases, patients go to private clinics, which most families cannot afford.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
