Asma Begum took her five-year-old son and a 12-year-old relative, both suffering from fever, to get their NS1 and CBC tests, required to determine dengue, at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, as per doctor's advice, on Thursday.

"But we got the results on Sunday evening, and both of them are dengue positive. It even took two hours for me to reach a doctor after getting the report due to the long line at the emergency department," said an exhausted Asma.

Had the results come earlier, both children could have been well into their treatments already, she added.

While the results of these tests are required as soon as possible to determine dengue and its severity in a patient, hospitals are struggling to do so – ultimately hampering treatment, which doctors are having to continue based on clinical judgement.

Ruhul Amin, husband of Afsana, 18, was waiting at the lab counter at Mugda Medical College Hospital for her test results.

"She gave her blood sample at noon yesterday [Sunday]. It's 3:00pm today [yesterday], and I'm yet to get the report."

The Directorate General of Health Services data shows that with four new deaths and 2,694 new cases recorded yesterday, the total number of fatalities reached 251, and cases 51,832.

Many of these patients, especially those experiencing dengue shock syndrome, need daily CBC (total blood count) tests for doctors to check for improvement or deterioration.

HM Nazmul Ahsan, associate professor at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, where the situation at the lab is similar to Mugda's, said CBC is a vital part of dengue treatment and patients in shock need to get them twice daily. 

"It is very important to get a CBC test report by the evening if the sample is given in the morning, but unfortunately we are not getting them as lab officials are struggling to cope with the rush of people coming in for tests."

Observing the hematocrits (red blood cell ratio) is imperative while giving patients fluid treatment, he said, adding that CBC tests are the way to do it.

"Getting quick test results is important to make quick decisions. And when they [doctors] don't get them [the results], they have to continue treatment based on their clinical judgements," Nazmul said.

Sharmin Akhtar's 14-month-old had been suffering from a fever since Friday, which prompted her to get the child tested for dengue.

She provided the infant's blood sample to the Mugda Medical College Hospital pathology lab at 5:00pm on Sunday.

However, she was able to get the result not before yesterday noon, as labs in hospitals across the city are swamped with samples.

Her child's result came dengue-negative.

"But I'm going to have to get my child tested again as per the doctor's advice as many results are showing false negatives."

Sharmin will once again have to wait to know if her baby has dengue or not.

Describing the rush at the Suhrwardy hospital lab, Nazmul Ahsan said, "They are now sometimes even running out of reagents [a component needed for the tests] or the papers used to apply the reagent."

Prof Md Niyatuzzaman, acting director of Mugda hospital, said the hospital lab has the capacity to conduct tests on 300 patients per day. "But we are now handling 1,200 patients every day.

"To manage the situation, we have now introduced two shifts – 8:30pm to 3:00pm for inpatients, who will get the reports by 9:00pm to 10:30pm, and 2:30pm to 8:00pm will be for outpatients, who will get their reports around 9:00am the next day."