871 children die at RMCH in three months

At least 871 children have died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) over the last three months, averaging at least 10 deaths per day. Among them, 52 children died with symptoms of measles.

The hospital has recorded the deaths from January to March this year. According to hospital sources, 12,514 children were admitted during this period. Of the total deaths, 276 occurred in January, 291 in February, and 304 in March.

Doctors have attributed most of the deaths to respiratory distress and pneumonia, with many children also showing measles-like symptoms at the time of admission. In many cases, children were transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) during treatment, but medical staff were ultimately unable to save them.

Some parents alleged that children with measles symptoms had to wait a long time to receive hospital beds and treatment. Epidemiologists suspect that while patients presented with measles symptoms, other viral infections may have been the underlying cause of death, though the specific reasons have yet to be fully confirmed.