Deaths of 51 children prompt Rajshahi hospital to form measles expert board

Specialist doctors have been deployed in Rajshahi to oversee critical measles treatment following 51 child deaths

Rajshahi Medical College Hospital has formed an eight-member medical board to strengthen treatment of measles patients after 51 children died from the disease and its complications amid a sharp rise in infections in the region.

The decision came on Thursday through an order issued by the hospital Director Brig Gen PKM Masud-ul-Islam.

The directive noted that the number of measles patients at the hospital was steadily increasing.

It said the board had been constituted to ensure advanced treatment for critically ill patients suffering from post-measles complications, with specialist doctors tasked with supervising care as required.

The panel will include senior physicians from multiple disciplines. Prof Shahida Yasmin, head of the paediatrics department, has been appointed chair of the board.

Other members are Prof Azizul Haque from the medicine department, Prof Manjur Elahi, head of neuromedicine, Prof Ahmad Zainuddin Sani, head of respiratory medicine, Prof Sharmina Aftab, head of virology, ICU unit chief Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, microbiology head Mizanur Rahman, and junior consultant of cardiology Rakibul Hasan Rashed.

Hospital spokesperson Dr Shankar Kumar Biswas said such boards are routinely formed to ensure the highest level of specialist care across departments and are part of standard hospital procedures.

Officials said measles infections began emerging in the Rajshahi region in the first week of March.

Initially, affected children were treated alongside other patients in the paediatric ward, but as conditions worsened, a separate isolation unit was opened at the end of March.

By Friday afternoon, 627 children had been admitted with measles or related symptoms.

Of them, 51 had died, while 135 patients remained under treatment.