DENGUE having assumed an epidemic proportion, or ‘endemic’ as physicians struggling to cope with the rush of patients are reported to have preferred to say, has strained hospitals and clinics and blood donation agencies, with family and friends of dengue patients frantically looking for the group of blood that they need. With the infection having now spread over 50 districts, at least 13,637 hospital admissions with dengue complaints have been reported in the year till Monday, with 1,283 of them taking place in areas outlying the capital city. While the actual figure of dengue infection could be much higher as the government bases its statistics on the records of 12 public and 35 private hospitals for the incidence in the capital, so far eight have officially been reported dead from the disease although unofficial counts put the figure at 41. In this pressing situation, agencies involved in blood collection say that they could manage blood for 500 patients a day now, which could meet two-thirds of the demand for blood in the capital. While a low platelet count is usually symptomatic of dengue, the need for platelets has further strained the situation as the preparation for a bag of platelet concentrate needs four bags of blood.

A blood collection agency says that earlier it used to prepare platelet concentrate for 20 to 25 patients a day and it now needs to prepare the concentrate for 90 to 95 patients. With the demand for platelet concentrate increasing each passing day, now also outside Dhaka, dengue patients might run into another problem if blood collection drive cannot be intensified at this stage of dengue epidemic. The demand for blood, as a blood donation agency coordinator says, has always been higher than the supply all the year round and now with dengue infection intensifying and spreading over, the dearth has, especially in the past few days, assumed a serious proportion. Such a situation has also affected other patients who need blood for surgeries. The situation has left many looking for blood through requests posted on social networking sites, even at the slightest hint of dengue infection and without consulting with the physicians if the patient would at all require blood or platelets. Physicians seek to say that many dengue patients this time might not need blood or platelet as the patients go into shock, unlike in the past outbreak when patients suffered haemorrhagic fever that required platelets. Yet a large number of patients require blood and platelets, which leaves the situation worrying as ever because the issue of the blood supply could not be properly shored up.

The government must, therefore, have a proper nationwide blood collection mechanism, adequately publicised with continuous awareness campaigns. In addition to having such a mechanism, the government must encourage, and facilitate, blood collection agencies to this end. People, who need to be more sensitised to the issue of blood donation, must also come forward and get into the habit of donating blood regularly in the interest of a better public health.