Diarrhea is dangerous, take patient to hospital immediately: Physicians

KABUL (Pajhwok): Diarrhea cases increase in hot season so families must observe hygiene and take such patients to health centres, health workers said on Wednesday.

Doctors at the Infectious Diseases Hospital and ‘Indira Gandhi Children Hospital’ say the number of patients with diarrhea has increased this year too as both hospitals received averagely 500 such patients.

In comments to Pajhwok Afghan News, infectious diseases specialist Dr. Faridullah Omari said: “All type of diarrhea are acute and contagious, both children and elders can be infected with such diseases, these are not simple illnesses, they are  dangerous, if not paid serious attention, they can lead to patient’s demise.”

Omari said: “Luckily the fatality rate from this illness is zero in our hospital.”

The diarrhea cases increase with the beginning of hot season in Afghanistan because the hot weather plays a basic role in spreading and growth of microbes.

Pointing to the increased number of patients suffering from diarrhea, Dr. Omari said: “We receive 80 patients every day, 50 of them get hospitalized due to the severity of their illnesses.”

Besides the lab and examinations facilities in this hospital, all patients get free medicines and free health services too.

Omari stressed observation of hygiene and washing hands with soap before serving food and after using toilet.

He advised the people to avoid eating staled and days-old food, canned food and street foods and be very careful during washing vegetables and fruits or they must leave vegetables in the solution of chlorine to kill microbes.

He called on families not to give any kind medics to ailing family members without consulting doctors or taking the patient to hospital.

He also advised not to drink energetic drinks before consulting physicians, but for patients with diarrhea, they could drink a solution of six spoons of sugar and half spoon of salt (ORS) before they reach a health centre.

Children most infected with diarrhea

Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Sediq, an internal diseases specialist and chief of Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in Kabul, told Pajhwok: “Currently, most of the children are infected with diarrhea due to carelessness of their mothers in food and clothing and not taking care of their children’s hygiene.”

He said about 1,400 patients visited the hospital on a daily basis and 400 of them were infected with diarrhea.

He added they provided treatment to diarrhea patients in three categories, oral rehydration solutions (ORS) were given to the first two categories patients and they were discharged from the hospital, but the third category patients, who are in critical condition, were hospitalized and treated in the hospital.

He asked mothers to pay serious attention to their child’s health and should transfer the patient tto hospital as soon as possible and refrain from giving medicine to the patient arbitrarily.

Patients satisfied with services provided in both hospitals

Zar Sanga, an inhabitant of Kabul city, whose one-year old grandson has diarrhea, said: “My grandson’s condition was not good. He had severe diarrhea and vomiting, we don’t know what he ate that he got infected with diarrhea.”

She was satisfied with services of doctors at this hospital and said her grandson was given free medicines.

Qari Ziauddin, a resident of Kabul city, who is hospitalized in the Infectious Diseases Hospital of Kabul, linked his disease with eating apricot and fish in dinner at his friend’s house. He said after infected with diarrhea, he visited a private clinic, but did not recover and then he visited the infection diseases hospital.

He was also satisfied with the services provided in the hospital.

aw/kk/ma

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