Death of student sparks protest
Dozens of students and their family members demonstrated in front of the capital's Central Hospital yesterday, demanding justice for a fourth grader who died for what her relatives said was wrong treatment at the hospital.
The hospital authorities denied the allegation.
Eleven-year-old Afreen Hoque Shristy, a student at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College (Dhanmondi branch), died at the hospital on Friday night, a day after she had been admitted there with dengue fever, said hospital sources.
Later, her family members alleged that she was not properly treated. As the news spread, over a hundred students from the school, along with their guardians, gathered on Green Road in front of the hospital around 11:45am yesterday. Holding banners, they chanted slogans against the hospital authorities, holding them responsible for the death.
They also formed a human chain, joined by Afreen's family members, demanding justice for her.
Talking to The Daily Star, Afreen's brother, Emranul Haque Antor, claimed his sister's death was caused by wrong treatment by the hospital doctors.
“They removed her [artificial] ventilation equipment at the intensive care unit without informing us and kept her body in a shroud for two hours until we forcibly entered in,” he said.
There were no doctors or nurses inside the ICU and only some Ansar men stood guard in front of it, he claimed.
Contacted, an official at the hospital, wishing not to be named, said Afreen died of dengue though they tried their best to save her.
After the girl died, her family members and some “outsiders” assaulted some doctors and nurses. They even broke the windows of the ICU and took away the body without paying the bills amounting to Tk 60,000, the official alleged.
On being informed, police visited the spot.
The family members made a verbal complaint with Dhanmondi Police Station that night while the hospital authorities filed a general diary the next day over the incident, said Officer-in-Charge of the police station Abdul Latif.
The hospital authorities formed a committee to probe the allegation and asked it to submit a report within seven working days, added the official.
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