Dengue treatment cost Tk34,000 per patient: BIDS
Families, which are categorised as extreme poor, spend 39% more than their total earning, found the study, conducted by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)
Medical treatment for a patient, diagnosed with dengue fever, cost approximately Tk34,000, according to a recent study.
Families, which are categorised as extreme poor, spend 39% more than their total earning, found the study, conducted by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
Research report of the study was revealed on Thursday during a Seminar titled "Epidemiological and Economic Burden of Dengue in Dhaka, Bangladesh"
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"In the last two years, Medical expenses of dengue patients have not decreased, rather increased by 5 to 10 percent. At present, dengue patients, who are going to hospitals for treatment, are having to spend even more than," said BIDS Research Fellow Dr Abdur Razzaque Sarker while presenting the key findings of the study in the event that was moderated by BIDS Director General Dr Binayak Sen.
"Our research shows that the average cost of a dengue patient in a government hospital on average was Tk 22,379 and in a private hospital Tk 47,230," Dr Razzaque added.
He said, this study aims to estimate the epidemiological and economic burden of dengue in Dhaka in 2019 from a societal perspective. A cross-sectional study design was adopted for this study. A combination of three different surveys was conducted to address the study objectives; (i) a community-based household survey for the epidemiological burden of dengue in Dhaka city, (ii) the hospital-based dengue patients' survey was conducted to estimate the economic burden of dengue at the household level, and (iii) a hospital survey was also conducted to capture the provider cost of dengue patients.
From the research, a total of 1,176 households were surveyed from both Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC). The prevalence of dengue patients was about 1.87% in 2019 while the prevalence was higher (2.27%) in DSCC than DNCC (1.37%).
The highest dengue prevalence (2.01%) was observed among the adults aged between 19 to 50 years old (2.01%), females (2.19%) and among small households (4.07%). Dengue prevalence was higher among those individuals who visited or walked the parks regularly in the evening and in the morning (3.38%).
A total of 302 hospitalised dengue patients were enrolled for the study. The average economic cost for treating the dengue patient was Tk33,817 ($406.06) from a household perspective. Further, Tk6,076 ($73) was spent by the public hospital per patient per episode of dengue. The societal (household + provider) cost of treatment per dengue episode was Tk39,893 ($479), whereas the average societal cost of treatment was Tk28,455 ($341.67) and Tk47,230 ($567.12) if the patient was treated in public and private facilities, respectively.
From the research the experts suggest that various social protection schemes including 'Shasthyo Surokhsha Karmasuchi (SSK)' may be introduced in urban Dhaka for poor and vulnerable households to tackle the catastrophic health burden against dengue infections.
Dr Binayak Sen said, "To ensure quality of treatment in hospitals, if the government fixes a cost for services in all hospitals, some difficulties will ease on people. The most important thing is to reduce the bed fee."
He added that the biggest problem with urban health is that the minister concerned does not have control over it. Matters within the city are controlled by the city corporation, resulting in a slight lack of coordination.
Over 26,000 diagnosed with dengue so far in 2021
This year, the number of dengue patients has exceeded 26, 000, of which 98 people have died. In the last 24 hours, 103 people were hospitalised following diagnosis. Of these, 84 are in Dhaka and 19 outside the capital.
Until 17 November, 2345 patients have been hospitalised and eight dengue patients have died so far.
According to Directorate General of Health Services data, the total number of dengue patients this year stands at 25,000.
At present, according to data from 46 hospitals in Dhaka, 435 people are receiving treatment in these hospitals while 114 patients are being treated in other districts.
The number of dengue fever deaths in 2019 has surpassed all previous records. According to official data, 156 people died this year while over a lakh were infected.
