A severe healthcare crisis is unfolding in Dhaka as a sharp rise in measles infections among children overwhelms the city’s major hospitals.
With isolation wards and hospital beds already gone beyond capacity.
The delay in receiving urgent medical care is pushing many measles patients' into critical condition. In response, the Directorate General of Health Services has instructed hospitals not to turn away the patients or refer them elsewhere.
Dhaka Shishu Hospital and the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Mohakhali are now treating far more measles patients than they were designed to handle.
The acute shortage of beds means many children are unable to secure admission, even after visiting multiple healthcare facilities.
The lack of timely access to ICU and PICU support is leaving critically ill children at greater risk.