At least 28 infants died within the last week at the Child Health Ward of Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH), leaving parents of other children admitted to the ward panic stricken.
Ward doctors said they did not fear outbreak of any disease or any “faulty medicine” behind the deaths and termed the similar timing of the deaths a “coincidence”.
Dr Kazi Shafiqul Alam, deputy director of CMCH, said the infants, aged between one to five months, died in between October 12-19 suffering from 13 different complications.
Most of the ward patients came from poor families and were not admitted to the hospital at the initial stage of their sickness, said Dr Nasiruddin Mahmud of child health department of CMCH. “The delay in getting proper treatment caused aggravation and eventual deaths,” he added.
Dr Pranab Kumar Chowdhury of the department said infants are most vulnerable to pneumonia during this season.
A visit to the Child Heath Ward on Saturday found that 205 children and infants were admitted to the 66-bed ward with three to four nurses to attend to them.
Only two nebulisers were available there against the high number of children admitted with respiratory complications.