Published : 06 Sep 2026, 05:05 PM
Updated : 16 Sep 2026, 11:48 AM
A child has died at a private eye hospital in Noakhali Sadar Upazila, allegedly due to wrong treatment, sending staff fleeing the premises.
The civil surgeon later turned up at Islamia Eye Hospital in Noakhali Municipality's Dattarhat and, finding the place deserted, ordered it shut down.
Abul Hossain, the hospital's managing director who had carried out the child's surgery, could not make his escape as he was with the patient's family at the time.
The incident took place on Saturday night, Sudharam Model Police Station chief Nazrul Islam said.
Hossain, now in police custody, has claimed he is a diploma-holding senior optometrist.
Noakhali Civil Surgeon Anwar Hossain, however, said optometrists can examine eyes and prescribe ordinary glasses but cannot perform surgery.
The hospital had previously been shut down once before, according to Naima Nusrat Jabin, the outgoing health and family planning officer for the Sadar Upazila.
She said a raid was carried out on Jun 8, 2024, after irregularities were found, leading to the hospital's closure at the time.
The child who died, 13-year-old Md Moslem, was from Charbasu village in Lakshmipur's Kamalnagar Upazila, a border area between Noakhali and Lakshmipur.
As per the child's relatives, Moslem was struck in the eye by another child while playing with peers on Saturday afternoon, causing blood to pool and swelling in the eye.
His parents rushed him to a village doctor at the local Cheuakhali Bazar, who, finding the injury serious, advised them to take him to an eye hospital.
Relatives alleged that when the child was taken to Islamia Eye Hospital, they were made to wait around 30 minutes as staff said a "senior doctor" was on the way.
The "senior doctor", Hossain, then arrived and took the child into the operating theatre, where he administered three injections into the child's eye.
Moments later, the child began foaming at the mouth and lost consciousness.
Hossain then advised taking the child to the Sadar hospital and attempted to slip away, but the family took him along to the 250 Bed Noakhali General Hospital, where emergency department doctors declared the child dead.
Mostafizur Rahman, emergency medical officer at the general hospital, said: "A 13-year-old child was brought in dead around 7:45pm. We don't know what caused the death."
Hossain, addressing the allegations, said: "The child's upper and lower eyelids were quite swollen. To check the cornea underneath, Xylocaine injections were administered to the upper and lower lids to numb the eye.
"But before the injection, the child vomited. He then had a seizure, at which point we set off for the Sadar hospital."
Noakhali Civil Surgeon said, "Based on the family's allegations, I inspected Dattarhat's Islamia Eye Hospital immediately after the incident. No one was found at the hospital at the time, and it has since been shut down."
"Legal action will be taken based on the family's written complaint,” he added. “We will also form an investigation committee to look into the entire matter and take further action once we receive the report."
Officer Nazrul said police were dispatched to the hospital upon receiving the information, and the accused had been taken into custody.
The child's body has been sent to the hospital morgue for postmortem. Legal action would be taken based on a written complaint over the incident, he added.
