Dhaka, April 24 -- The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Thursday instructed all the government hospitals not to refuse patients with measles or measles-like symptoms due to bed shortage.

The instruction came as some public hospitals have been facing immense pressure with an increased number of measles patients in recent times as five more children died of measles-like symptoms and 1,295 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours until 8:0am on the day, according to the DGHS bulletin.

The DGHS asked the government hospitals to increase beds to cope with the growing number of measles patients, instead of refusing them.

Even if there are no vacant beds in the hospitals, the patients cannot be returned. If necessary, addi...