Mosquito breeding grounds: Govt hospitals should have answers

Mugda Medical College Hospital. Prothom Alo File Photo
Mugda Medical College Hospital. Prothom Alo File Photo

More than a dozen renowned hospitals in the main cities of the country are teeming with mosquitoes thanks to their squalid environment. Although such reports have surprised everyone, the truth is these hospitals have been in this state for years.

The country is undergoing an undeclared dengue emergency. In such a time, it is unacceptable that these hospitals have been breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

The level of negligence by the authorities at Mugda Medical College Hospital in Dhaka has crossed the limit. There's a banner at the hospital building where its principal asks everyone to 'remove unnecessary clean water'.

However, the yard of the hospital itself is a breeding ground for Aedes mosquito, carrier of the virus responsible for dengue fever.

The government’s disease control unit found Aedes mosquito larvae in 80 per cent of discarded bottles, buckets and bowls as well as window ledges of the hospital.

It is considered 'hazardous' if the larvae are found in 20 per cent of a container. Prothom Alo correspondents found the sadar hospitals in the divisional cities lie in a squalid condition as there are stangnant water on the yards and other places while garbage are randomly left here and there.

The quality of service people receive at the government hospitals is also poor. We accepted this as our fate, but the country has fallen into a serious crisis due to the Aedes mosquitoes and experts say things won't get better any sooner.

The authorities have already indicated that the fever will continue to torment people throughout September.

The number of dengue patients admitted to the hospitals has already exceeded 50,000, which is a record for Bangladesh. And every day more and more patients are being admitted to the hospitals.

In such a situation, the government hospitals should have conducted regular cleaning drives to keep the premises clean, which sadly, did not happen.

Many including the mayors expressed their concern over lack of awareness among the citizens in terms of destroying the domestic sources of mosquito breeding. Mobile courts too imposed fines in Dhaka and at other cities for uncleanliness. A government official, too, had to pay Tk 20,000 as fine, which shows two opposite pictures in the same country.

Those who are responsible for turning the government hospitals into mosquito breeding grounds should be brought to book.