Six-Year-Old Boy Dies of Dengue at Dhaka Hospital Amid Treatment Delays

Six-year-old Md Abir has died of dengue at the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital in Agargaon, Dhaka, following a tragic course of illness that culminated on August 16, 2023. Although the young boy's ancestral home is located in Uttar Rajibpur village under Sundarganj upazila in Gaibandha, his family lived in Ashulia, Dhaka.

The ordeal began on August 13, 2023, when the child was admitted to the Jamgora Women and Children Hospital in Ashulia, where medical examinations confirmed that he had contracted dengue. Over the course of four days of medical care at that facility, the family incurred a total treatment expense of 113,000 taka.

As the child's condition deteriorated, he was subsequently transferred to the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital in Dhaka. The father, Shafiul Islam, detailed the heartbreaking final moments of his son's life, noting that the young boy was lying on a hospital bed at approximately 3:26 pm on August 16 wearing an oxygen mask and asking for water, saying, "I will drink water, abbu."

According to the father's account, when the oxygen mask was removed so the child could drink, he immediately began to cough violently. Blood emerged along with the cough, pouring out of his mouth. As the father tried to wipe his son's mouth, he realized the bleeding was catastrophic, and shortly thereafter, the child passed away.

Shafiul Islam also shared that hospital medical personnel, including nurses and incoming shift workers, delayed responses by telling them to wait for the new shift to arrive. Furthermore, doctors later claimed that the child not only suffered from dengue but also had blood cancer, a diagnosis the grieving father rejected, stating that a boy who ran around healthily and showed no prior symptoms of cancer could not readily be believed to have had the disease at the very last moment.