Shishu Hospital seeing an uptick of pneumonia patients

Children and elderly are mostly flocking to the hospitals to get treatment for winter-related diseases like pneumonia, asthma and diarrhoea.

For instance, all 19 beds at Dhaka Shishu Hospital's pneumonia ward were occupied.

"Before a bed becomes vacant, another child arrives," said an official of the hospital.

A total of 236 children have been admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and diarrhoea so far this year, while 36 children have died with symptoms of pneumonia.

In January last year, a total of 429 children were admitted to the hospital, up from 286 a year earlier.

Maryam, a one-and-a-half-year-old child, has been receiving treatment at the pneumonia ward for the last 24 days.

"My daughter has cough -- she has difficulty breathing and lung ulcers. The doctor said Maryam needs more time to recover," said her mother Shireen Akhter.

Like Mariyam, nine-month-old Ayan has been admitted to the pneumonia ward and is undergoing treatment.

Ayan's mother Sharmeen Akhter told The Daily Star that his son's fever is cyclical and the temperature goes up and down every four hours or so.

He already recovered from a fever after treatment, but he still has a cough.

Every day, 1,000 to 1,200 patients are coming to the hospital for treatment and most of them are suffering from pneumonia and diarrhoea along with respiratory symptoms, said Md Jahangir Alam, director of Dhaka Shishu Hospital.

Due to the outbreak of winter, the number is increasing as children are most vulnerable to pneumonia, he said.

Only those whose physical conditions are very complex are admitted to the hospital, he said, adding that the number may decrease by February.

Around the world, pneumonia remains among the top five infectious diseases that cause fatalities in children under five, accounting for 14 percent of 0.7 million deaths from infectious diseases, icddr,b data showed.

According to the icddr,b, approximately 2-3 children die every hour from pneumonia in the country. At least 24,000 die every year.

Doctors suggested taking up a balanced diet enriched with vitamin D, wearing masks and comfortable warm clothes and regular exercising to help prevent contracting cold-related diseases.

Children should be given special attention during winter so that they do not suffer from pneumonia and cold-related disease, said Iffat Ara Shamsad, child specialist and head of paediatrics at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.