Hours after doctors at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) declared a newborn dead early morning on Monday (Apr 23), it stirred up when relatives were preparing for the burial.
The baby has been taken to the Dhaka Shishu Hospital (DSH), the state-run specialised facility for children, where she is now on life support.
Savar resident Sharmin Akter was admitted to the DMCH late on Saturday (Apr 21), when doctors had said that it’s a stillborn baby, according to family members.
Akter gave birth on Monday morning, when doctors found the baby girl to be unresponsive and concluded it was stillborn, following which the hospital authorities issued a death certificate.
Relatives took the baby to Azimpur graveyard for burial, when they named her ‘Meem’ in the official documents and listed Sharmin Akter and Minhazuddin as the parents.
As the preparations were going the baby stirred up, said Hafizul Islam, a graveyard staffer.
She was rushed to a nearby Azimpur Matrisadan hospital before being transferred to the DSH.
“We gave her initial treatments before transferring her to the Shishu Hospital for better care,” Israt Jahan, superintendent of the state-run facility, told Bangla Tribune.
“The family informed us that the baby was taken to the graveyard for burial,” she said.
Doctors at the Dhaka Shishu Hospital (DSH) have said the newborn was brought into the hospital in a critical condition.
“She only weighs one kilogram and having difficulties in breathing. Her body temperature is also fluctuating,” Professor Abdul Aziz of the DSH told the media soon after Meem was under their care.
Describing the newborn’s condition, he said they were “waiting for a miracle”.
“We are doing everything we can to save the baby. She has been kept at the cardiac intensive care,” said Aziz.
Quoting the newborn’s relatives, DSH’s Deputy Director Md Abu Tayeb said that soon after the mother was admitted to the DMCH on Saturday, the doctors concluded that it would be a stillborn case.
“The mother, who was suffering from pre-eclampsia, was taken to a clinic in Savar on Apr 19. She was given blood, before the doctors referred for better treatment,” he said quoting the baby’s uncle Shariful Islam.
“She was then taken to another hospital in Savar, but they referred her to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital,” added senior DSH doctor Tayeb.
Shariful rushed the baby to the nearby hospital from the graveyard, he said before adding: “The doctors there confirmed him she was alive, but her heartbeat was low and she was having difficulties in breathing. She was then brought here and now being treated at the cardiac ICU.”
Authorities at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital declined to comment and said an inquiry has been opened.
“The departmental head has been told to probe. The media will be briefed later,” said DMCH Director Brig Gen AKM Nasiruddin.