As floodwaters continue to recede, the number of patients infected with water-borne diseases is growing and the experts say that the situation might take a turn for worse in the coming days.
Meanwhile, prices of some medicines, including oral saline, rose in many flood-affected areas, even in the capital. The oral saline, which usually sells at Tk 3, was being sold at Tk 5 at many city pharmacies yesterday. Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said floodwater in the central part of the country, including the capital, is expected to recede in a week.
In the last 24 hours, at least 4,744 people were diagnosed with diarrhea in the 38 flood-hit districts, while the total number of diarrhea patients now stands at 23, 716, says the diarrhea control room. A total of 18 people died due to flood-related reasons in the last 24 hours, ending at 11:00am yesterday, raising the death toll to 210 across the country.
Scores of diarrhea, pneumonia and typhoid patients thronged various hospitals, especially the International Centre for Diarrhea Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) and Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) yesterday compelling the authorities to engage more doctors and staffs to cope with the situation.
