Source: Daily Sun

Govt spends Tk 50,000 on each patient!The government has already spent around Tk 400 crore on treatment of dengue patients of the country this monsoon, Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque said.“The government is providing treatment to dengue patients in public hospitals free of cost. Tk 50,000 is being spent for each patient. The government has already spent around Tk 400 crore this monsoon on dengue treatment,” he said.The minister came up with the statement while speaking at a roundtable discussion on dengue management at hotel Sheraton in Banani of the capital on Sunday.He said of the dengue patients, 70 percent take treatment in government hospitals while the rest 30 percent take treatment in private hospitals across the country.“Usually two types of dengue patients take treatment in hospitals-- some patients need ICU [Intensive Care Unit] support and platelet while some others recover only by taking medicine,” Zahid Maleque said.He said 1,12,184 dengue patients were admitted to hospitals in the country this monsoon while 1,03,411 patients returned home after recovery, 537 died and 8,236 patients are undergoing treatment.Describing the risk to female dengue patients, the minister said though the number of female dengue patients is comparatively less than males, the number of death of female patients is high. Of the total dengue patients admitted to hospitals across the country, 65 percent are males while of the death of dengue patients, 65 percent are females and 35 percent are males. “Almost double female patients died than males.”Mentioning that of the total dengue patients, 50 percent are reported in Dhaka city, he said if the dengue transmission was controlled in the capital, then it was possible to reduce, almost fifty percent dengue patients of the country.Meanwhile, with more than 21,000 cases of dengue reported among children under the age of 15, UNICEF is intensifying its support to the efforts of the Bangladesh government to contain the dengue outbreak.To protect children and to respond to the public health emergency, UNICEF is delivering USD2.25 million worth of urgently needed testing kits, training of professionals, along with other critical supplies and services in the health and water, sanitation and hygiene sectors, UNICEF said.Mentioning that the dengue outbreak has now spread to 64 districts, it said according to the health ministry, more than 1,12,000 cases of dengue have been reported, of which 20 percent are children below the age of 15 years. Over 500 dengue related deaths have been reported.