Record heatwave has forced healthcare facilities to take emergency measures to provide medical services to patients with heat-related illnesses as the entire country has been reeling under extreme heatwave since beginning of April.
"Large numbers of people are becoming ill with heatstroke, dehydration, exhaustion and breathing problems and they are suffering from other heat-related diseases as the country witnessed record-breaking temperatures through the month of April," Director of Mugda Medical College and Hospital Dr Md Niatuzzaman told BSS today.
"Under the directive of the health minister, we have taken special measures for the patients linked to heat-related disease . . . a significant number of people are coming to Mugda hospital to take treatment after becoming sick due to on-going heatwave," he added.
Children and elderly people are suffering from different heat-related diseases, said Niatuzzaman, adding, "We have taken special initiatives to treat children and elderly people as they are the most vulnerable during this prolonged hot weather".
Identical pictures of heat-related illness are also seen in other hospitals and healthcare facilities including Shishu Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital and the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B).
Spokespersons of these hospitals said since the first week of April, patients with heat-related health complications have been visiting doctors to get treatment and some of them got admitted with critical illness caused by severe heatwave.
A K M Tariful Islam Khan, spokesperson of the ICDDRB, said, "Nearly, 500 diarrhoea patients have been admitted to the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). A significant number of patients are getting admission to ICDDRB daily".
Although this admission figure of diarrhoea patients is normal he dubbed abnormal hot weather as the main reason for the water-borne disease, he added.
Immediate past director of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital Dr Khalilur Rahman suggested that people take precautionary measures including wearing weather-suitable clothes, avoiding external exposure during day time to protect themselves from heatstroke and resting after one or two hours during the working period.
He also urged people to have liquid food particularly coconut water, lemon juice and safe drinking water as the human body suffers massively from dehydration due to excessive hot weather.
Khalilur said, "During the sweeping of heatwave, body temperature increases alarmingly, which may cause fainting of the people. People have fainted and have heatstroke as our brain does not absorb high temperature as it (brain) has a maximum capacity to tolerate body temperature".
As the country has been experiencing severe heat waves since the beginning of April, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has issued four-point guidelines recently to prevent heatstroke and other heart-related diseases.
The guidelines include staying away from intense heat, resting under shadows, drinking plenty of safe water, avoiding street food and drinks, wearing loose, thin and light-coloured clothes and visiting doctors, if any symptoms such as stopping sweating, nausea, severe headache, increased body temperature, decreased appetite, burning sensation, convulsions and fainting are shown during this hot weather.
Dr Muhammad Abul Kalam Mallik, a seasoned meteorologist working at the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) said, "Met Office has been collecting data on increasing temperature since 1948 . . . April already has been the hottest month for breaking all records of 75 years".
"In 2019, 23 days of two months - - April and May -- were for sweeping mild to moderate heatwaves. This year, April alone reached exactly 23 days of mild to moderate heatwave meaning April has broken record for a prolonged month of heatwave," he added.
"This ongoing heatwave will continue despite some areas near border areas witnessing little rainfall," the meteorologist said, adding, "There is a chance of relief from this hot weather as our mathematical model has shown no significant rainfall may occur during the next one or weeks."
The entire country is reeling under the first spell of severe heatwave since the first week of the current month and the ongoing heatwave will persist throughout the next month.
"The Met Office issued a heat alert on April 3 and it has extended the heat alert as Bangladesh is likely to experience prolonged heatwave compared to the past couple of years," Shahnaz Sultana, a meteorologist of Bangladesh Meteorologist Department (BMD), told BSS recently.
According to officials of different hospitals, the lack of expected downpours lingers the nationwide heat wave, triggering an apparent health problem with the increased number of people reporting to hospitals with high fever, diarrhoea, pneumonia and sunstroke every day.
