Staff Correspondent

Parts of the country have been grappling with a mild cold wave coupled with winds, causing public sufferings.

The low-income people, children, senior citizens are the worst sufferers of the severe cold that threw daily life out of gear.

People affected by cold-related diseases are rushing to hospitals while the healthcare providers are struggling to cope with the patients’ pressure.

Moreover, local agricultural departments issued cautionary messages for cultivated potatoes and seedbeds of Boro paddy.

The country’s northwestern district Panchagarh recorded the lowest temperature at 8.3 degrees Celsius at 9am Friday (3 January), Md Rokanuzzaman, an observer at Tetulia Weather Observatory Centre in Panchagarh, said.

The humidity was 100% and the speed of winds remained 12 to 13 kilometres  per hour, he said.

The observer said they recorded 20.4 degrees Celsius yesterday, a hike of 12.1 degrees Celsius from today.

On the other hand, Chuadanga recorded temperature at 10.8 degrees Celsius, an increase by 1 degrees Celsius compared to the previous day.

According to the weather office, the district recorded the lowest temperature at least four times this season.

Rakibul Hasan, senior observer at Chuadanga Weather Observatory, said a mild cold wave was sweeping across the district and it might continue for the next few days.

Fisherman Ashik Sardar said they couldn’t go fishing due to the severity of the cold.

Three-wheeler van driver Token Ali said, “I don’t want to go out of the house in the winter. But if you sit at home, we will go hungry. So I have to go out. But there are no people on the streets. I can’t find passengers.”

Meanwhile, due to the cold, the crowd of people suffering from cold-related diseases has increased in the district hospitals, upazila health complexes, private hospitals and private chambers of doctors.

Doctors and nurses are struggling due to the overcrowding of patients, especially in the paediatrics, diarrhoea and medicine departments.

Mahbubur Rahman, consultant of the pediatric department of Sadar Hospital, said the number of two types of child patients has increased due to winter–cold-related diseases and rotavirus diarrhoea.

The pressure of pediatric patients is increasing per day and on average 60 patients are receiving treatment in the inter-department pediatric ward. Besides, 50 to 60 patients are being treated in the diarrhoea ward.

On the other hand, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has issued a special alert to protect potato fields and Boro paddy seedbeds.

Masudur Rahman Sarkar, deputy director of the district’s DAE, said the paddy seedbed should be irrigated in the afternoon and drained out the next morning.

Moreover, remove the dew from the seedlings in the morning, if possible, cover it at night, he said.

Farmers have been advised to spray fungicides in potato fields so that they do not get fungus in advance. Officials of the Agriculture Department are performing their duties carefully at the field level to oversee the overall affairs, he added.