Health Worker Demands Justice After 9-Month-Old Son Dies in Closed Children’s Hospital ICU
Photo Collected
DHAKA, Bangladesh — A deep, harrowing silence enveloped the front of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Bangladesh Children’s Hospital and Institute in the capital, broken only by the mounting anxiety of a mother. Rabeya Begum kept her eyes glued to the door, unable to reconcile the sudden tragedy. Not long before, her 9-month-and-5-day-old son, Mehmed bin Zia, was smiling at her. Shortly thereafter, the infant’s breathing stopped permanently following complications from measles and pneumonia.
Now, Rabeya Begum is demanding answers to two critical questions: Why was her child placed on life support without family consent, and why was the ICU gate locked by hospital staff during his final moments?
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The tragic incident unfolded on the night of May 15. Rabeya Begum, who works as a medical technologist at Mugda Medical College Hospital, and her husband, Md. Ziaul Islam, an Ashulia-based banker, were right beside their son in the ICU. The doctor on duty abruptly asked them to step outside. Rabeya maintains they were never informed that their child was about to be placed on life support.
According to the child’s uncle, Sohail Akon, the doctor later casually mentioned that a “sleep injection and life support” had been administered before quickly leaving the scene. When family members rushed back into the unit, they recorded mobile video showing no doctors present—only two nurses who ordered them out before locking the main ICU gate from the inside.
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The locked gate caused a massive stir on social media after Akon posted the footage. “We had to call repeatedly before a doctor finally arrived from elsewhere, wearing a mask, and the gate was unlocked,” Rabeya said. “By that time, my son was already gone from this world.” The family insists that checking the hospital’s CCTV footage and interviewing relatives of other patients in the room will easily verify their claims.
Hospital authorities, however, have offered a different narrative. Professor AKM Azizul Haque, President of the hospital’s management board, claimed that the child’s condition had deteriorated rapidly and life support was an emergency measure to save him. He defended the locked doors by alleging that the grieving relatives attempted to “create a mob” and physically assaulted the nurses. “There were other patients in the room. That is why the door was closed. There was no other reason,” Haque stated. When pressed on the lack of informed consent, he responded, “An attempt was made to save the child. Only the doctor can judge the patient’s condition. Parents cannot say.”
This administrative stance directly contradicts official regulations. Dr. Moinul Ahsan, Director of the Directorate General of Health Services (Hospitals and Clinics), clarified that locking hospital rooms—except for emergency containment or supply stores—is strictly prohibited. Furthermore, he emphasized that obtaining written permission from a patient’s legal guardians is mandatory before initiating life support.
Mehmed’s medical struggles had begun in late April with a severe cold and cough, leading to a brief stay at a private hospital in Mirpur where he was treated for pneumonia, fever, and diarrhea. He was discharged on May 7, but the symptoms flared up again two days later. On May 13, after failing to secure a bed at multiple facilities, his parents managed to admit him to the isolation ward of the Bangladesh Children’s Hospital, where he was formally diagnosed with measles. Because of his continuous illness, he had not yet received his scheduled measles vaccine.
Rabeya clarified that she does not blame the entire hospital staff, but is specifically targeting the medical team on duty that night for severe negligence. She believes the physician lacked the necessary expertise to handle life support or failed in their duty of care. She also recalled that the same doctor had blocked her from photographing her son’s medical reports to seek a second opinion the day prior, and noted that a senior professor had openly reprimanded the duty doctor for failing to document the child’s clinical history in the official file.
Little Mehmed has since been laid to rest at his maternal grandfather’s family graveyard in Baufal, Patuakhali. As the grieving parents prepare to return to Dhaka, they are finalizing a formal, written complaint to submit to the hospital authorities. For Rabeya, the fight is no longer about bringing her boy back, but about ensuring that accountability is served so that no other mother has to face a locked door in their hour of grief.
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