The escalating measles outbreak in Bangladesh is not only emotionally traumatising families, but also putting them in severe hardship due to mounting hospital bills.
Six-month-old Arbid Khandokar first had a high fever. The fever quickly turned into a medical emergency that left Arbid’s family struggling to pay thousands of taka in treatment costs and with mounting debt.
Arbid died hours after he was put on life support at Bangladesh Children’s Hospital and Institute at Shyamoli on Saturday, his mother Rubina Akhter said.
‘When rashes appeared on the baby’s body, we took it for something minor. But later the doctor diagnosed him with measles along with pneumonia. Within days, he was having difficulty breathing. He was put on life support today morning and now we lost our child,’ Rubina said.
‘We have done everything in our command, but still failed to save our son’s life. Please pray for his departed soul,’ Rubina said.
The child had been hospitalised for the past two months after he was first admitted to a hospital in Dhaka with rashes all over the body following a pneumonia vaccination at a local health complex in Kishoreganj.
She said that they had to admit the child to a private hospital for a few days after failing to manage a bed in government hospitals and later managed a seat at Bangladesh Children’s Hospital.
‘My husband had a small business earlier, which was shut down due to losses and now he has no regular income. To cover the costs, I have sold my gold ornaments and we have also borrowed money from relatives and neighbours,’ Rubina said.
Their relatives also went to every kin’s family they could approach and collected fund for treatment of their son, she said, adding, ‘I would do everything I could but I wanted my son to get well.’
She said that the hospital bills and the daily expenses had reached Taka 9 to 10 lakh.
Md Rajon Hossain, who works at an auto servicing shop in Rajshahi, was seen sitting outside of the paediatric intensive care unit at the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Mohakhali in the capital.
His five-month old son Raad Hossain has been fighting measles complications at the hospital since May 29.
‘We had gone to Feni on Eid vacation, where my son developed measles symptoms the day after Eid. We first took him to a hospital there, where doctors referred him to a better hospital,’ Rajon said.
The family then went to a hospital in the capital before they were sent to Infectious Diseases Hospital, he said, adding that the child had been under treatment since then and had somewhat improved.
‘We were already struggling to meet daily expenses and I started skipping work to be with my son here. The treatment costs crossed Taka 16-17 lakh and I had to borrow money from everyone I know to afford the cost and daily expenses at the hospital,’ Rajon added.
Meanwhile, many guardians are moving from hospital to hospital in the capital in search of beds, with many turned away as beds are not available.
Amena Akhtar came to the city from Shariatpur after doctors referred her one-year-old son with measles symptoms to the capital for better treatment.
However, after reaching Bangladesh Children’s Hospital and Institute at Shyamoli, she was seen sitting on a floor by the entrance as they were told that there was no bed available there.
Professor Syed Abdul Hamid at the Institute of Health Economics of Dhaka University said that the cost of measles treatment was becoming unbearable for families regardless of their financial condition.
‘Families are not getting treatment in one hospital and have to run to another. Inadequate number of PICU has also worsened the situation while the patients’ condition has deteriorated,’ he said.
He urged the government to launch an ‘emergency fund’ for facilitating financing for all types of health-related emergency situations so that victim families would not have to suffer like they have been for measles.
Meanwhile, parents are also worried as many patients are admitted to hospitals with measles symptoms for the second time.
Anisur Rahman, a trader from Keraniganj, said that his 11-month-old son had been treated for measles for a week at the Infectious Diseases Hospital.
‘We were discharged last week, but my son showed measles symptoms again, prompting us to rush him to the hospital again and we have been in the hospital for the second time four days ago,’ he added.
It was found during a visit to the hospital on Saturday morning that at least three other children were admitted to the hospital with measles symptoms for the second time.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services, three more children died with symptoms of measles across the country from 8:00am on Friday to 8:00am on Saturday.
During the same period, the health authorities recorded 1,032 new cases of measles and with measles-like symptoms.
Since 15 March, a total of 91 children have died due to measles and 522 after developing symptoms associated with measles.
DGHS data show that 77,791 children have developed measles symptoms since 15 March.
During this period, hospitals admitted 63,134 children with measles-related symptoms. Of those admitted, 58,964 children recovered and subsequently returned home.
