Dengue and other seasonal illnesses have swamped Pirganj Upazila Health Complex in Rangpur. The 50-bed hospital has 130 inpatients spread across its floors and verandas, 29 of them with dengue, and many are being treated on the floor for want of beds.

Hospital sources said many of those infected had recently come home from Dhaka with fever and tested positive either in the capital or after returning. Patients Halima Begum and Nahid, who came from Dhaka, said their dengue was found when they had their blood tested after arriving home with fever.

Outpatients complain of hours in line just to get a ticket. Jahanara Begum, who came from Parbatipur, said she stood for two and a half to three hours before seeing a doctor. Inpatients also complain about poor-quality meals.

Staffing lies at the root. The hospital was upgraded to 50 beds in 2011 but its staff was never increased: only 9 of 23 sanctioned doctor posts are filled and 99 staff posts are vacant. Since a specialist was transferred in August, emergency obstetric care and caesarean operations have stopped, so pregnant women must travel 48 km to Rangpur Medical College Hospital.

The rest of the upazila is no better. Mother and child health centres at Madarganj, Khalashpir and Chatra, opened in 2023, still have no staff three years on, and the sub-centres in 15 unions have no doctors, so patients from neighbouring Sadullapur, Palashbari, Birampur and Ghoraghat also crowd into Pirganj.

"Dengue has hit Pirganj harder this year than in previous years," said resident medical officer Tarikul Islam. He said the outpatient department handles six to seven hundred patients a day and that more funding and staff are needed quickly.

With feverish workers returning from Dhaka carrying the infection into villages, an early blood test at the first fever is the practical precaution for rural families.

Source: Samakal