The silence that fell over Building 2 at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Tuesday was not the quiet of recovery, but the stillness of a life cut tragically short by greed.
Hasib Ahmed Minhaj, a seven-month-old infant and the only child of a working-class couple, died after a hospital employee allegedly prioritised a private clinic’s commission over the baby’s desperate need for oxygen.
The tragedy marks the end of a harrowing journey for Minhaj’s parents – Helal Mia, a jewellery shop employee, and Meghla Khatun, a garment worker. Their struggle began in Rangpur, where the infant was being cared for by his grandmother.
After a bout of diarrhoea led to serious kidney complications, the family travelled across the country in a desperate search for specialist care. They were turned away from several facilities, including Dhaka Shishu Hospital, due to a lack of available beds.
Upon reaching the DMCH emergency department, the family was met not with immediate sanctuary, but with the predatory tactics of a medical middleman.
Md Anayet Karim, a 40-year-old government employee, allegedly intercepted the family, falsely claiming that no beds were vacant in the paediatric ward. He pressured the desperate parents to move Minhaj to a private facility in Katabon, quoting a daily cost of Tk25,000.
In a move described by the family as “murder,” Enayet allegedly removed the infant’s oxygen mask, despite explicit warnings from previous doctors and the family themselves that the child could not survive for even two minutes without it.
The family followed Enayet through the hospital corridors for thirty minutes, unaware that their son’s life was slipping away in the middlean’s haste to reach an ambulance. By the time they reached the gate, the seven-month-old had stopped breathing.
The infant’s uncle, Md Ripon, expressed the family’s profound sense of betrayal, noting that they had followed every instruction given to them by hospital staff. “Our seven-month-old baby was murdered,” he said, pleading for justice.
“We appeal to the government so that no other mother’s arms are left empty in this way.”
Enayet Karim was apprehended by the grieving relatives as he attempted to flee and is currently being held by the police.
While Sub-Inspector Monmoth Haldar has confirmed that legal action will follow a formal complaint, for Minhaj’s parents, the pursuit of justice begins in the shadow of an unimaginable loss.
The body of their only child remains at the DMCH morgue, a grim testament to the fatal toll of medical middlemen.
