2 children reportedly killed after taking medicine

It has been alleged that two brothers died after consuming a medicine syrup in Ashuganj upazila of Brahmanbaria.

The incident took place at Durgapur village of the upazila on Thursday night (10 March). The deceased were identified as Yasin Khan, 7, and Morsalin Khan, 5, sons of Sujan Khan, a bricklayer from the village.

Lima Begum, the mother of the children, said that two days ago her youngest son Morsalin got fever. Her eldest son Yasin also had been suffering from fever.

To treat the fever they were fed a medicine syrup from the nearby "Ma Pharmacy".

Soon after that, Yasin and Morsalin started vomiting.

When the condition deteriorated, they were first taken to Ashuganj Upazila Health Complex and then to District Sadar Hospital.

Yasin died at around 9pm on the way home from the hospital after receiving first aid at the hospital, and Morsalin died at 10:30pm after being brought home.

Main Uddin, the owner of the drug store Ma Pharmacy, has been absconding since the incident. However, the packaging of the syrup shows its expiry date to be in 2023.

Ashuganj police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Azad Rahman said the bodies of the two children have been recovered and sent to the District Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy. The syrup will be sent to the laboratory for testing.

Nupur Shah, who works at Ashuganj Upazila Health Complex said the two children were senseless when they were brought to the hospital. It might have been a case of poisoning, she added.

So, they were sent to District Sadar Hospital for washing their stomach as the health complex does not have that facility for children, said Nupur Shah.