Naogaon youth barred from entering village died without treatment: family

A 22-year-old, who had fever and headache, died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) last night.

Before that, he was barred by the locals from entering his village in Naogaon yesterday morning and was also turned down by three hospitals over suspicion of coronavirus infection.

He died due to not receiving any treatment, our Natore correspondent reports quoting family members.  

He was buried at his village this morning.

It's not about fear of coronavirus but the patient was suffering from meningitis and was referred to RMCH as the treatment of this disease is not available in Naogaon, Dr AM Akhtaruzzaman, civil surgeon of Naogaon, said.

The youth had fever for last eight days, the civil surgeon added.

Saiful Ferdus, deputy director of RMCH told our staff correspondent in Rajshahi that the youth was suffering from untreated meningitis coupled with meningoencephalitis for long and came to the hospital at the end stage.

Employee of a fabric store in Dhaka, he went to his village with high fever yesterday morning, locals and family members said.

However, a union parishad member along with some locals barred him from entering his village over coronavirus suspicion, said the family members.

He was taken to Raninagar Upazila Health Complex, then to a community clinic and to Naogaon General Hospital, but was denied treatment everywhere, Moklesur Rahman, the youth's father, said.

He was referred to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) yesterday evening and died there in the night, said the father.

When they reached Noagaon General Hospital, doctors gave them a document and sent them to RMCH, he added.

At RMCH, doctors didn't come to see the patient as the fever was not coming down in spite of injecting a medicine, the father said.

My son died around 8:00pm due to high fever, Moklesur alleged.

Mofazzal Hossain, the UP member who barred the youth from entering his village, said that they asked his family to bring doctor's reports as the youth had fever and cough.

The decision was taken considering villagers' safety, he added.