C T Online Desk: A surge in cold-related deaths has given rise to many questions, but there is consensus among physicians that the poor do not have enough to wear during the winter.
The divisional health office in Rangpur reported 218 cold-related deaths between November 15 and December 31 in the eight districts of the division.
The latest report released centrally by the Directorate General of Health Services, however, confirmed 68 deaths in four of the eight divisions of the country in the past 47 days, excluding the northern divisions.
The DGHS report revealing that none died due to cold-related diseases in northern Bangladesh, the gateway to winter, where one of the country’s largest crowds of impoverished people lives barely sheltered and clothed, came as a big surprise.
Mohammad Zahidul Islam, in charge of the Health Operation Centre and Control Room, responsible for preparing the latest DGHS report, did not answer phone calls for comment.
Habibur Rahman, who is at the helm of the government’s health services operations in the Rangpur division, said that deaths recorded by his office were reported day to day to the DGHS headquarters.
‘We report cold-related deaths online every day,’ Habib told New Age, failing to give an explanation of why the winter casualties recorded by him did not make it to the officially released central list.
Diseases such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and diarrhoea surge during the winter, sending a massive onrush of patients toward hospitals, said Habib.
‘Many deaths are also caused by cerebral vascular disease,’ he said, explaining the common health condition in winter that leads to stroke and deaths, even among youths.
Of the deaths reported by the Rangpur divisional health office, 53 deaths were recorded in Rangpur district, followed by 36 deaths in Kurigram, 31 deaths in Dinajpur, 26 deaths in Gaibandha, 22 deaths in Panchagarh, 19 deaths in Nilphamari, 17 deaths in Lalmonirhat, and 14 deaths in Thakurgaon.
The centrally released 68 deaths occurred in Mymensingh, Chattogram, Khulna, and Barishal divisions, with 53 of them recorded in six of the 11 districts of Chattogram.
Winter casualties are believed to be much higher than both official figures, since government estimates tend to underestimate.
Physicians at government hospitals in northern districts reported an unusual surge in the number of patients visiting their facilities with cold-related diseases this winter.
‘Patients are usually hospitalised in critical condition,’ said professor Rawshon Alom of Rangpur Medical College Hospital, who was surprised by the number of patients this winter.
Some physicians said that, like rain, cold spells became unpredictable, hitting and retreating suddenly, subjecting the human body to frequent temperature changes and making it difficult to adjust.
The most common reason that doctors believe exacerbates the situation is a lack of adequate warm clothing.
The poor in the north live in very delicate conditions. They are exposed to the cold north wind day and night, as even the faintest flow of wind infiltrates their rickety houses.
Many of the poor in the north are char dwellers, floating on rivers, surrounded all day by dense fog while being swept by a non-stop wave of wind.
In the northern districts, the worst victims of cold weather are wage earners who show up at work, which are usually vast fields of crops covered with thick fog into the noon hour, wearing a shirt and covering their heads with a scarf.
‘These unprotected poor farmers have been exposed to cold for decades and develop serious cold-related symptoms,’ said Shamsul Haque, who heads the health wing of Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Development Service, a non-government organisation.
Quilt, which usually comes as winter government relief supply, cannot be worn to workplaces, he said, implying that the poor are almost always exposed to cold.
Even the supply of quilts comes much later than needed, for the government starts its distribution as long as a month after people in pockets of the northern districts begin experiencing cold wind, said Moniruzzaman, who heads the health wing of another NGO Samaj Kalyan Sangstha.
Sabirul Islam, the divisional commissioner of Rangpur district, told New Age that he had distributed over 3 lakh quilts out of over 4 lakh allocated for a population of over two crores.
He asked the government for one million more quilts.
Cold diarrhoea becomes more prevalent during winter, especially among children, with rotavirus spreading widely.
The DGHS’s latest report recorded 306,354 hospitalisations of diarrhoea patients at public hospitals between November 15 and December 31. Other cold-related diseases, on the other hand, caused 40,253 hospitalisations.
Health experts urged the government to provide free rotavirus and flu vaccinations for children and the elderly.
The temperature slightly increased on Sunday, pushing the mercury just below 10C, the lowest temperature recorded in the country.
The Met Office, in its bulletin issued at 6:00 pm on Sunday, warned that the temperature was likely to fall over the next five days.
New Age correspondent in Manikganj reported that heavy fog suspended ferry services over the major river crossings of the Paturia- Daulatdia and Aricha-Kajirhat connecting highways for up to over 13 hours.
Visibility over the Padma River dropped dangerously after 8:30pm prompting six ferries to anchor mid-river until 10:00am, confirmed Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation’s deputy general manager Shah Mohammad Khaled Newaz.
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded at the river crossings until Saturday evening, with a warning that ferry services might again be suspended due to reduced visibility.
Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport authorities said that four flights had been delayed in the morning due to poor visibility.
