A day after a 24-year-old woman gave birth to quintuplets at Kushtia General Hospital three died on Wednesday and two others were in critical condition, doctors said.
Sadia Khatun, wife of a tea vendor Sohel Rana of Panti village in Kumarkhali upazila, gave birth to one son and four daughters at the hospital through normal delivery, her first, on Tuesday. She delivered the babies five months after she conceived.
The weight of the babies ranged from 430 grams to 650 grams, a doctor at the hospital said describing it severely underweight.
Dr MA Momen, supervisor of Kushtia General Hospital, said as the babies were born underweight physicians advised the parents to take them to Dhaka for better treatment. But they could not afford to bring them to Dhaka.
The babies were under oxygen support after their birth, he said.
Of the new-borns the son died around 5 am on Wednesday while the two daughters died around 2:30 pm and 3:30 pm, he said.
The condition of two other babies is stated to be critical.
Contacted, Sohel Rana, the father of the five children, said “It is impossible for him to take the children to Dhaka for better treatment as he earns his bread by selling tea.”
He also sought financial help from the solvent people of the society for treatment of the surviving babies.