The news that over 100 persons, who are down with Dengue fever, have been hospitalised in Dhaka in the last two days has created a serious concern among the city dwellers. This is expressly because all the indications are there that a specially virulent outbreak of the disease is imminent. In that case, the latest statistics of the victims could pale into insignificance if many more are afflicted by its pandemic form in the coming days or weeks.

Reportedly, the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has formed a rapid action force to fight Dengue and this special squad would be spraying the areas which have been surveyed and found out to be the most infected spots in terms of harbouring the Aedes mosquitoes that cause the fever. The hapless citizens would be only hoping and praying that the DCC would this time show some real promptness and would not be its usual lackadaisical self while responding to an emergency situation. Any delay in executing rapid action steps against the breeding grounds of the Aedes mosquito population could prove to be disastrous from the point of view of public health and happiness.

It is no good on the part of the DCC to warn and advise citizens to take safeguards on their own through keeping their own premises clean. DCC cannot absolve itself of its responsibility in this regard if it fails at even this eleventh hour to do what desperately needs to be done involving the cleaning of all public places that can breed Aedes mosquitoes such as drains, derelict water bodies, stagnant water, etc. Even after the best attempts of citizens to keep their homes clean, the carriers of Dengue will still fly into their homes from the outside and this is where DCC's role in attending to the preventive sides of the disease is so very important.

The facilities for the treatment of Dengue in the public hospitals are also not adequate as sufferers complain. Few people can afford the costly treatment at private hospitals. Therefore, the relevant ministry needs to attend to the requirements of improving Dengue treatment facilities in the public hospitals on urgent basis. It needs to be ensured that none dies in a public hospital from the inability to diagnose Dengue accurately or from aimless treatment. The ministry must put itself on a war footing to maximise facilities for the effective treatment of Dengue at the public hospitals.