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Download PDF The number of severe arsenic contaminated patients is three times higher than the previous estimation done around two yeas ago, says a joint study of the government and JICA.
The study shows the number of arsenicosis patients are increasing alarmingly due to want of safe water sources in affected areas.
The study conducted under the project titled “Sustainable Arsenic Mitigation under Integrated Local Government System (SAM-ILGS)” also finds many identified patients died in last five years without proper treatment.
“The actual number of patients in the country could be even more than triple than that was identified previously if the contaminated areas are surveyed again,” Kazuyuki Kawahara, project manager, said.
The first government arsenic project titled Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation and Water Supply Project (BAMWSP) started in January 1998 and continued until June 2006.
Kawahara said they found 799 patients in Chowgachha upazila in Jessore while the previous BAMWSP found only 275 patients there.
“The main reason of increasing number of patients is that previously the patients were identified by the field workers under BAMWSP whereas the patients have been identified under the new [SAM-ILGS] project by health assistants and confirmed by doctors,” Kawahara added.
He said BAMWSP identified around 38,000 arsenicosis patients in 268 upazilas across the country. But if the areas are surveyed again and doctors confirm the patients, the number would cross even 1 lakh.
He emphasised initiating a fresh survey on the most vulnerable areas in Comilla, Chandpur, Chapainawabganj and Faridpur.
According to the previous project, 4,036 patients were identified alone in Comilla, 2,600 in Chandpur, 2,321 in Chapainawabganj and 903 in Faridpur.
The number of patients is drastically increasing due to lapse in constant vigilance in mitigating contamination and because many abandoned the instruments supplied by the government and donors.
Admitting the rising trend of arsenic contamination, SAM-ILGS Project Director and Deputy Secretary (Water Supply) of Local Government Division M Shafiqul Islam said the users abandon water-purifying devices due to lack of maintenance, thus affecting more people.
“People must use purified water in the contaminated areas. There’s no way left to get rid of the diseases as most of the contaminated areas have high level of arsenic existence,” he added.
The project consultant suggests community initiative to raise awareness and initiate users community for maintaining purified water devices.
The Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE) discovered arsenic contaminated tube-wells for the first time in Chapainawabganj in 1993 and doctors identified arsenicosis patients in the district next year.
The government enacted a national policy for arsenic mitigation passed in 2004 to make government and private programs to mitigate arsenic problem coordinately.
BAMWSP identified 1.44 million arsenic contaminated tube-wells out of 4.95 million in 270 upazilas.
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