Two-year-old Habib has already spent 19 days inside the crowded wards of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The toddler was admitted with a neurological illness. But two days ago, doctors detected symptoms of measles, adding another layer of fear and uncertainty to a family already exhausted by weeks of treatment.

His mother, Hasina Begum, sat beside the hospital bed, clutching the child as nurses moved in and out of the ward. The family, which came from Noakhali to seek treatment in Dhaka, has already spent more than Tk 1 lakh on medicines, tests, and travel.

“I did not think about money even once,” she said, her voice breaking. “I just want to save my child.”

Since the measles symptoms appeared, Habib has undergone several more tests. His tiny arms and legs are swollen from repeated injections and attempts to collect blood.

“There is no place left to draw blood from,” Hasina said. “Doctors are saying his condition is not very good. He already has problems in the brain and now this measles infection has made everything worse.”

She said her son could not be vaccinated during this period because of his medical condition.

“I will do everything I can for him,” she added.

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On the same bed lies 13-month-old Afridi, another child battling measles.

His mother, Sumi Khatun, arrived in Dhaka from Bhola only the day before yesterday, after her son developed high fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea. What began as a sudden illness quickly turned into a desperate search for treatment.

“My child was completely healthy before this,” she said. “Suddenly he became very sick.”

Healthcare options in Bhola were limited, she said, forcing the family to rush to the capital.

“I did not have his vaccination card with me, so he could not get the vaccine,” Sumi added.

Before finally finding a bed at Dhaka Medical, she moved from one hospital to another, carrying her sick child in her arms.

“I first went to Mohakhali, then to PG Hospital, but there were no empty beds there,” she said, referring to Bangladesh Medical University. “Then I came to Dhaka Medical and got admitted around 6:00pm. But treatment only started around 11:00pm.”

Behind these stories is a hospital struggling to cope with a growing number of measles infections among children.

In the overcrowded paediatric wards, a single bed is often shared by two children suffering from entirely different conditions.

During a visit to the ward, this correspondent saw one child with fever and pneumonia receiving oxygen support. The child could not tolerate prolonged exposure to heat or a running fan. Lying beside him was another child distressed by the suffocating heat and congested environment, desperately needing cooler air.

The contrast captured the impossible conditions inside the ward, where nearly every bed holds children with different medical needs but no separate space to accommodate them.

Yet for their parents, finding treatment matters more than comfort.

A duty doctor at Dhaka Medical, who requested anonymity, said, “We have four cabins here and every cabin has four beds. But we receive around 14 to 15 measles patients every day.”

“In many cases, two patients have to share a single bed. The biggest problem is that we do not have a dedicated ward or cabin to deal with this measles wave.”

The doctor said overcrowding and poor infection control were making treatment even harder for vulnerable children.

“The hospital environment is not suitable for babies because they are already in a very weak condition and have poor immunity,” he said. “Even after admission, we often have to wait for test results to confirm whether a baby has measles.”

“When babies are under six months old, we cannot give them the vaccine. These are the obstacles we are facing in fighting measles,” he added.

Inside the packed wards, anxious parents spend sleepless nights fanning feverish children, waiting for medicines, test results, or simply a vacant bed.