Chad ordered free dengue care throughout the public health system on 2 November, removing charges for consultations, laboratory examinations and treatment. Prime Minister Allah Maye Halina directed immediate implementation after an emergency meeting found that patient numbers were exceeding the capacity of several hospitals.
The government also ordered additional beds and medical tents, particularly at university hospitals. These measures extend the response beyond the hospital inspections conducted on 1 November: public facilities must now absorb more patients while providing dengue services without charging them. The announcement did not specify a budget or how quickly the additional capacity would become operational.
A special sanitation week will target stagnant water and mosquito-breeding sites. Aircraft and collective transport—including urban and intercity buses—are also to undergo systematic insect treatment, alongside a nationwide prevention campaign.
Cemetery figures deepen concern
Municipal records disclosed early on 3 November list 2,072 deaths registered at Lamadji cemetery during October, averaging 66.8 a day. The document, examined by Tchadinfos, does not identify medical causes. Comparable figures for earlier months were not provided, leaving the extent of any increase in mortality unclear.
There is also a substantial discrepancy between two counts for 26–31 October. The municipal register records 437 deaths at Lamadji; an investigation by the weekly Abba Garde, based on cemetery workers’ accounts, gave 593 burials there. The difference—156—remains unresolved, including whether the sources counted deaths and completed burials differently.
Health Minister Abdelmadjid Abderahim said on 2 November that not all deaths in the capital were attributable to dengue. He instructed hospitals to communicate information about deaths in their services and urged patients to seek care promptly rather than self-medicate.
The dengue tally cited in the 2 November regional update—4,600 suspected cases, including 353 confirmed cases, and 14 deaths—covers 22–26 October, not the latest hospital surge. Six provinces were affected, with N’Djamena and Wadi Fira accounting for most suspected cases.
Access to information has become another point of contention. Chad’s online-media association, AMET, alleged that private journalists were being restricted from entering hospitals and interviewing officials. It requested supervised access that protects patients’ privacy and threatened to suspend coverage of the ministry’s institutional communications if restrictions continued.