Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Kalam Azad said the decision was taken after a meeting with the authorities of private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers at the directorate.

“All the private hospitals and clinics have to charge a fixed rate for the tests required to detect dengue infection. The order took effect today,” the DG said.

For dengue test (NSI), the charge was fixed at Tk 500 which was previously Tk 1000, while that for Complete Blood Count (CBC) test which includes RBC, WBC, Platelet, Hematocrit was fixed at Tk 400 and IgM+IgG or IgM+IgE tests at Tk 500.

It also instructed all the hospitals to set up a separate desk for dengue patients and engage more doctors and nurses to handle the growing dengue patients.

Ten DGHS teams, each comprising three members, will monitor the hospitals across the country and legal action will be taken against those who would fail to comply with the directives, Azad said.

The hospitals and clinics were also asked to follow the National Dengue Management Guideline, Dr Kalam said.

Besides, he said the National Dengue Management Guidelines will be updated after a review in consultation with the World Health Organization (WHO) within this week.

Replying to a query about the shortage of medicines and saline in government’s hospitals, the DGHS DG said the authorities concerned have already been asked to buy those on an emergency basis as additional allocation will be given on emergency basis. 

Some 2,671 dengue patients are undergoing treatment at different hospitals across the country until Saturday.

From January 1 to Saturday, there have been 10,528 confirmed dengue cases and eight of them died, according to an official figure.