<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The government has so far spent Tk400 crore on dengue treatment this season, Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque said on Sunday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The government is providing dengue treatment free of cost in government hospitals and spending an average of Tk50,000 per patient in the country, the minister disclosed at a discussion meeting on how to combat dengue at a city hotel in the capital this afternoon.</div><div><br></div><div>Zahid Maleque said that 70 percent of the dengue patients have received treatment in the country's government hospitals. And the remaining 30 percent received treatment in private hospitals.</div><div><br></div><div>Generally, two types of dengue patients are treated in hospitals. Some of them require platelets and ICU service and some are cured only by taking medicine, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Regarding the risk to women, the health minister said that though the women are affected less compared to last year but dying more.</div><div><br></div><div>"Women are dying more because they delay getting treatment. Maybe they are not being noticed. Of the total patients, 65 percent are male patients in the country," he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Around 65 percent of total deaths from dengue this year are female patients, the health minister informed.</div><div><br></div><div>The minister also said that half of the dengue patients are outside Dhaka.</div><div><br></div><div>So far, the DGHS has recorded 1, 12,184 dengue cases this year, the highest ever.</div><div><br></div><div>Among others, Dr. Anwar Hossain Howlader, Secretary of the Health Services Department of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Khurshid Alam , director general of DGHS, Additional Director General Professor Dr. Ahmedul Kabir, were also present on the occasion. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>