THE scene at Yangon Children's Hospital is busy. Hospital staff
carry sick children on trolleys from one ward to another, while
a steady stream of new patients registers at the front counter.
Hundreds of people sit in the waiting room, listening for the
man with the loudspeaker to call their names.
“Only patients whose names have been called and their
parents are allowed to enter the examination area,” the
man warns.
By mid-morning the waiting area. Some who registered at 9am
are still waiting at noon to see one of only 12 doctors who are
rushing around the examination area checking the children.
The parents have brought their children to the hospital to be
checked or treated for dengue fever or, in more severe cases,
dengue hemorrhagic fever.
Symptoms of the disease, which is spread through mosquito bites,
include fever, headache, eye pain and joint pain. Later stages
of severe cases are characterised by bleeding of the nose and
gums, as well as blood in the stool.
Left untreated, severe cases in children can cause death within
seven days of the first appearance of symptoms.
According to the Ministry of Health, more than 30 children in
Myanmar have died from dengue hemorrhagic fever so far this year
and the number of cases of the disease is soaring as monsoon tightens
its grip on the country.
The disease usually reaches its peak in June and July.
State television has been airing announcements about dengue
hemorrhagic fever, including how to spot symptoms and prevent
disease-carrying mosquitoes from breeding.
The warnings have brought a stream of concerned parents and
their sick children to the hospital, whose staff have found themselves
overwhelmed by the demand for checkups and treatment.
One nurse from Yangon Child Hospital says more effort has to
be made to teach people about the symptoms and prevention of dengue
fever at the grassroots level.
She says many parents mistake the early symptoms of the disease
for normal illness. “They wait until the disease gets serious
before they bring their children in."
