Dhaka: The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) and other major health facilities in the capital admitted thousands with heat wave syndromes as excessively hot weather gripped the country for the past two weeks.

Doctors said despite their preparedness to treat extra number of people with diarrhoeal diseases, dehydration or fever due to hot weather in March and April, the hospital registrars this year appeared to be enlarged in size in terms of patient enrolment due to protracted heat waves.

‘Since the start of March, we (ICDDRB) alone so far admitted more than 19,000 people, most of them being children,’ chief of hospital of the specialized facility Dr Azharul Islam Khan told BSS.

The state-run facility for children Shishu Hospital in the city also reported high rate of admission in the past several weeks because of the mild heat wave exposing minor children to severe health risks in particular.

‘Parents are taking their small children with problems like high fever, cough and diarrhoea as the hot weather made them sick,’ director of the facility Professor Dr Manzoor Hussain said.

Children in villages in particular were getting sick as they take prolonged dip in ponds and cannels and then start playing under burning sun while the quick change of temperature make them sick.

‘The parents and adults should be careful about this situation,’ assistant surgeon of Kadamtola Union Health Complex in Pirojpur Dr Sakil Sarwar said.

Talking to BSS eminent pediatric and National Professor Dr MR Khan said children were very sensitive to this hot and humid weather as ‘they get dehydrated quickly and germs multiply in their bodies easily during heat waves’.

‘Babies and children have relatively low body weight, as compared to adults that make them more vulnerable to the fluid loss or dehydration that occurs when more fluid is lost from the body compared to the volume they consume ... this causes an imbalance of minerals in their bodies,’ Khan said.

He also said excessive weather like heat wave also generally expose people of different ages to viral infections causing a lot of irritation, running nose, fever, breathing problems with cough filling the breathing passage.

All these experts and doctors came up with a common suggestion asking people and particularly children to drink plenty of water, lemonade, green coconut water for keeping fluid balance in the body as metrological department warned that the current heat wave might continue for next several days despite slight fall of mercury.

According to a Met Office bulletin severe heat wave is sweeping over the regions of Rajshahi, Pabna and Kushtia and mild to moderate heat wave is sweeping over rest part of Rajshahi and Khulna divisions and the regions of Dhaka, Tangail and Faridpur and it may continue.