DHAKA, 14 August 2007 — Bangladesh canceled leave for doctors and set up mobile hospitals to combat the spread of waterborne diseases as the death toll from widespread floods climbed to more than 400, officials said yesterday.
Most of the deaths were caused by drowning, snakebites, electrocution and house collapses across two-thirds of the country swept by more than two weeks of devastating flooding.
“The confirmed death toll as on Monday midday was 405, up from 359 reported on Sunday,” said a statement from the Health Ministry’s flood control room.
“Diarrhea has taken an alarming turn with the floodwaters receding,” said A.S.M. Matiur Rahman, health adviser to the country’s army-backed interim government.
Officials said authorities had set up 22 mobile clinics as government and private hospitals were unable to cope with the rush of patients.
So far, nearly 45,000 patients suffering from diarrhea and other waterborne diseases have been treated in hospitals, health centers and clinics across the country. Of them, 17 have died.
The International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB), and an army medical team will jointly operate a special diarrhea treatment center in the capital, Dhaka, officials said.
Doctors at the ICCDDR said over the past week they received about 1,000 diarrheal patients on average each day.
Bangladesh Red Crescent Society on Sunday distributed relief supplies to flood victims in Faridpur, 130 km from Dhaka.
“We are trying to help them as much we can,” Abdur Rob, chairman of the Society in Bangladesh said.
“We have been living almost without food since the floods washed away my home and whatever else I had. Today is the first time I am getting some help,” said a woman while receiving a Red Crescent relief packet.
Weather officials said the floods would continue to recede, as most rivers had dropped below their danger levels, but fresh rain triggered by a depression in the Bay of Bengal could lash the country again.
