Monywa struggles with dengue cases
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The children's ward at Monywa General Hospital is struggling to cope with the influx of dengue-fever patients with some children receiving treatment on the corridor floor outside the ward.
“I have no idea how the hospital staff will manage if there are any more patients. Many more arrived this morning,” said Daw Ni, the mother of a patient.
Than Nyunt, the head of the hospital in Sagaing Region, said: “We have accommodation problems. We have moved some of them to the surgical ward. If there are any more patients, we will place them in the eye department and the ward reserved for monks.”
He added that the countermeasures against dengue fever were only effective when people were willing to cooperate.
In Monywa Township, Sagaing Region, there have been 557 dengue cases reported since January, with 56 children hospitalised in three days at the end of June.
Most of the patients are from Shwebo District.
According to the Public Health Department, between January 1 and June 26, 11,267 dengue fever cases were reported in Myanmar, and 48 people have died of the disease across the nation. The rate of infection and death is still increasing, it said.
Ayeyawady Region has suffered the most from the outbreak with 2,362 cases of infection and seven deaths. A total of 1,508 dengue fever cases were reported in Yangon Region, causing 11 deaths, including that of an infant, according to the region’s public health department.
Preventive measures are now being implemented at basic education schools in Yangon Region in cooperating with township level health departments.
In 2013, 4,174 cases of dengue fever and 32 deaths were recorded nationwide, marking a 6-fold increase from 2012 infection levels.
The most recent cases of dengue infection have been reported in Thanlyin, Hline Tharyar, Insein, Dagon (South), Tharkata, Dala and Shwepyithar townships.
Dengue first broke out in Yangon in 1970. Since 1974, infections began to spread to Mandalay Region, Bago Region and Mon State. The disease was first reported in Kayah State in 2008. No cases have ever been reported in Chin State.
