Nazma Begum, the pregnant woman who was shot in the womb last week, has yet to see her bullet-hit newborn daughter who is struggling for her life at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The child was shifted to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the doctors are not allowing anyone in. Which is why the meeting of mother and daughter did not happen.
After reaching Dhaka via ambulance from Magura General Hospital on Thursday night, Nazma has been undergoing treatment at the DMCH gynaecology ward. When this correspondent visited her yesterday afternoon, she was lying on her bed quietly, her face vacant of expression.
But her eyes, full of unshed tears, could not hide her agony of not being able to hold her infant child in her arms.
“Doctors said our child needed her mother, but now they are not letting us near her because of her worsening condition,” said Bachchu Bhuiyan, the father. “My wife is getting better. Doctors said our child may need to feed from her, so we are ready. But my child is not responding to the treatment. She is getting more and more weak.”
He was seen going back and forth between his wife and daughter, struggling to keep himself together.
“I am afraid for my child’s life now; the doctors told us to pray to the Almighty for her,” said a teary Bachchu. “We have no demands – just make my daughter better.”
Dr Kaniz Hasina, associate professor at the paediatric department of the DMCH who is supervising the newborn’s treatment, said the child’s condition started deteriorating soon after a surgery, and now she is now suffering from fever and jaundice.
“She cannot feed yet, we are giving her saline only,” Kaniz told the Dhaka Tribune. “We will start giving her mother’s milk once she starts to improve.”
However, the doctor could not say when that might happen.
Discussing the infant’s progress, Dr Ashraful Haq, chief of child surgery unit, said there were several reasons why her health was not improving as it should.
“She was born premature, and she was hit by bullets. She has fever and her platelet count is also very low. But more importantly, she has not been fed her mother’s milk since she was born, which is absolutely essential for her.”
Although Bachchu claimed that his wife was getting better, DMCH Deputy Director (Admin) Khaza Abdul Gafur said Nazma still has some infection in her body, which is another reason why she is now allowed near her daughter.
Meanwhile, beside the nine-member medical board formed to treat the child, another medical board was formed with four members including two specialists from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical Hospital yesterday.
The newly formed board has taken some new decisions regarding the child’s treatment, which are now being implemented, said Prof Abid Hossain Mollah, head of the paediatric department and member of the new board.
The newborn received bullet injuries when her eight-month pregnant mother was shot in the abdomen during a clash between two factions of Jubo League in Nagura on July 23.
