Child patient dies after fire at Suhrawardy Hospital in Dhaka

A child patient has died after evacuation of hundreds from the Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in Dhaka due to a fire incident.

Doctors at CARe Hospital declared the one and a half years old child dead on arrival on Thursday.

The child had been being treated at the paediatric ward, which according to its Director Uttam Barua, suffered most damage in the fire.

The child’s gender and other details could not be confirmed immediately.

The child was given oxygen, but the oxygen mask was removed during the transfer, according to CARe Hospital General Manager Md Abdullah Khan.

Relatives brought the child to the CARe Hospital, Abdullah said and added they took the child away after it was declared dead.

The CARe Hospital authorities did not have the time to ask for identities of patients as the doctors had to tackle a rush after the fire incident, according to Abdullah. 

A total of 30 patients were brought to the CARe from Suhrawardy and 27 of them were admitted, including seven to the Intensive Care Unit, he said.

CARe authorities decided to treat the Suhrawardy patients, who were forced to leave the government hospital due to the fire, for free, he added.

Anwar Hossain, an official at CARe, gave a similar version of the story.

A police official, requesting anonymity, said he heard about the death of a child.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque and Fire Service Director Genera Ali Ahmed Khan, while visiting Suhrawardy Hospital in the evening, said there were no casualties in the fire. 

Around 1,200 patients of the government hospital were transferred to other hospitals after it caught fire in the evening.

Many panicked patients rushed to safety while relatives and hospital authorities brought the others out under the open sky before the transfer.