Children and infants are the main victims of this life-threatening disease. Unfortunately, most of the hospitals in the country are not well equipped with the facilities needed to treat pneumonia patients, particularly infants. Special medical teams have been formed to keep the situation under control in the affected areas. But the death toll had risen sharply at the initial stage when the hospitals had to deal with a sudden rush of patients. It was also reported that some of the fatalities occurred due to non-availability of drugs

It is a regrettable truth of the matter that most of our hospitals are not capable of facing any emergency. Pneumonia is not an unknown disease and hospitals are expected to have the necessary drugs and other arrangements for treating patients.

District administration and hospital sources in the badly affected areas have claimed that the situation is improving, but the validity of the claim can be questioned as more and more pneumonia patients are seeking admission in hospitals.

Another problem is that most people know very little about the disease and the need for early hospitalisation of patients. A mass awareness campaign on pneumonia has to be launched as part of a broader plan to combat such infectious diseases.

Meantime, the directorate of health services should take stock of the latest situation and arrange for the logistic support that hospitals in the remote areas need to successfully handle the outbreak of pneumonia, which has assumed threatening proportions in some places.