A family in Rajbari has been shattered after a mother and her three-year-old daughter lost their lives to dengue fever, leaving behind grief and an unfulfilled dream. 

The tragedy has cast a pall of sorrow over Baghutia village in Baliakandi upazila.

The deceased were identified as Jayanti Biswas (34), wife of Samir Mondal of Baghutia village, and their daughter, Pratibha Mondal (3). Following their deaths, Samir’s younger daughter, five-month-old Janhavi Mondal, has been left motherless.

Samir Mondal, who works as a personal officer at the Ministry of Home Affairs, had been living with his wife and two daughters at the Tolarbagh staff quarters in Mirpur-1, Dhaka.

Speaking with tears in his eyes, Samir recounted the events that led to the tragedy. He said his wife, Jayanti, developed a fever on the night of 13 September. The following day, she was diagnosed with dengue at Delta Medical College Hospital. Following medical advice, she continued her treatment from home.

Just two days later, on 15 September, their daughter Pratibha also developed a fever. On 17 September, her test results confirmed that she too had dengue.

As Jayanti’s condition worsened, she was admitted to the Bangladesh Institute of Health Sciences (BIHS) Hospital on 18 September evening. The next day, doctors reported that her blood pressure had collapsed. She was shifted to the ICU later that night and placed on life support as her condition continued to deteriorate.

Meanwhile, Pratibha’s health also declined rapidly. She was admitted to BIHS Hospital on 19 September noon, but doctors recommended immediate transfer to a paediatric ICU. With no such facility available there, she was moved to Universal Medical College Hospital.

On 21 September at 7am, doctors removed life support from Jayanti and declared her dead. She was laid to rest later that day in her ancestral village, Baghutia. The following evening, on 22 September at 9pm, Pratibha succumbed to the disease while undergoing treatment at Universal Medical College Hospital. The little girl was buried beside her mother the next morning.

Samir Shared Heartbreak

I married Jayanti out of love in 2013. For nine long years we had no children. After treatment, our first daughter, Pratibha, was born on 11 June 2022. My wife dreamt of making her a doctor. But everything has ended now. My younger daughter is only five months old, and she has lost her mother. I don’t know how I will go on.”