Four children have died of viral haemorrhagic fevers at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in Dharan over the past two weeks.

Dr Narayan Bhattarai of the Department of Microbiology, who is also the spokesperson for the BPKIHS, confirmed that the children aged between six and 14, who were brought to the emergency department, died of viral haemorrhagic fevers. Earlier, the hospital had said the cause of the deaths was yet to be ascertained.

The deceased have been identified as Raju Karki of Itahari-10; Priti Kumari Chaudhary of Kanchanpur-10, Saptari; Prashant Rai of Thokshila in Udayapur and Bikalpa Rai of Dharan-17. All four children, aged between 6 and 14 years, were brought to the emergency ward of the hospital between July 30 and August 17.

“All four children were in critical condition when they were brought to the hospital. They died during preliminary treatment,” said Dr Prakash Paudel, adding that all of them had symptoms of high fever and stomachache and were vomiting blood.

The children were said to be running high fever at the time of their admission.

“They died in an hour or two as they complained of difficulty breathing and stomachache. They were vomiting blood as well,” said Dr Paudel.