Case filed over deaths of six newborns at Ad-din Hospital, authorities accused

A case has been filed over the deaths of six newborns at Ad-din Hospital in Moghbazar area of the capital. The case accuses the hospital of negligence leading to the deaths of the infants. The hospital authorities have been named as the accused.

The complaint was filed last night, Wednesday, at Ramna Police Station by Habibur Rahman, the father of one of the newborns. It was officially recorded as a case today, Thursday.

Ashiq Iqbal, officer-in-charge (OC) of Ramna Police Station, said no individual names had been mentioned in the complaint. The hospital authorities were named as the accused. An investigation is underway, although no arrests have yet been made.

The six newborns, who had been undergoing treatment in the hospital’s post-operative delivery ward, died on Wednesday morning. The infants were between one and three days old. However, the exact cause of death has not yet been confirmed.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has formed a three-member investigation committee to look into the incident.

Relatives of the newborns said the babies in the room suddenly began crying late at night. Within a short period, all the infants started crying. One of the babies became seriously ill and was taken to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).

Towards dawn, the condition of the other babies also deteriorated one by one. They too were later taken to the NICU. Shortly afterwards, while the babies were in the NICU, the families were informed that they had died. At the time of death, the bodies of several of the newborns reportedly turned blue.

Professor Nahid Yasmin, director general of Ad-din Hospital, said there were 11 mothers and six newborns in the ward, which was a post-delivery ward where the babies stayed with their mothers.

Since it was an air-conditioned ward, the mothers had reportedly asked the nurses on duty during the night to switch off the AC because they were feeling cold. After the AC was turned off, two babies fell ill around 4:00 am and were taken to the NICU. Physicians examined them and found them to be stable, after which the babies were taken back to the ward.

Nahid Yasmin said the mothers again reported in the morning that the babies appeared unwell. All six infants were then taken to the NICU. Two of the babies had already died while being taken there, while the remaining four were in critical condition. They were placed on ventilator support, and physicians attempted to save them, but were unsuccessful.

Following the incident, members of the forensic unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sealed off the room in the post-operative ward around midday and later collected evidence from the site.

Shortly afterwards, members of the bomb disposal unit of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) also visited the ward. The team collected samples to determine whether any harmful gas had been present in the room.

Later in the afternoon, the bodies of the newborns were handed over to their families. Police said the bodies were released without post-mortem examinations because the families did not want autopsies to be carried out.