Govt sends only 500 dengue kits for Sylhet division 

The government on Thursday sent 500 dengue testing kits to Sylhet division for a population of more than 1.2 crore.

The government consignment, as it reached the division, will enable the locals, for the first time, to avail free dengue tests. The locals previously had no alternative except screening the disease at private medical facilities for a fee.

However, as the consignment of kits is too inadequate the local doctors are about to write to the ministry, demanding for fresh supply. Dr Debapada Roy, Sylhet divisional office director at the directorate general of health services, said that they were likely to run low on dengue kits by Sunday.          

“The amount of the allocated kits would help a little if all with fever want to run the tests. Therefore, people need to be aware of the fact that all flus are not dengue.

“Most of the patients brought the disease from the capital, and they already have the disease screened. Therefore, all those infected with dengue virus in Sylhet don’t need to go for the check,” he claimed. 

In the meantime, the number of dengue infected people in Sylhet is increasing alarmingly. Around 200 people have been diagonosed with the virus so far. Among them, two patients claimed that they did not travel outside recently, which indicates the presence of Aedes mosquito in the division. 

Supartha Bhattacharya, a doctor at the Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, said that the hospital doesn’t have any crisis over dengue detection kits. 

“There is no crisis at the hospital concerning dengue test kits. However, situation might get difficult as the Eid rush begins,” Dr Bhattacharya, also the in-charge of the hospital’s ‘dengue corner’, said. 

Osmani Medical College Hospital treated 92 dengue patients so far. Presently, 46 patients are undergoing treatment at the hospital. According to DGHS, Sylhet divisional office, a total of 14 people got infected by the mosquito-borne virus in last 24 hours, ending on Saturday morning.