Judicial probe ordered into BIRDEM cases

A Dhaka court has taken cognisance of two cases filed by the BIRDEM General Hospital and relatives of a patient who died there during treatment. Metropolitan Magistrate Mizanur Rahman has ordered judicial investigations into the cases. BIRDEM authorities filed a case earlier in the day against relatives of one Sirajul Islam accusing them of vandalism. Hours later, Islam’s daughter Farhana Nasrin sued the hospital for medical negligence causing death to him. Islam was admitted to the hospital, specialised for diabetic patients, on April 9. He died four days later. His relatives alleged that negligence on the part of the doctors had led to his death. The hospital authorities accused Islam’s relatives of assaulting several doctors and vandalism. Doctors at the hospital went on strike from April 15 demanding punishment for the ‘attackers’. BIRDEM hospital stopped admitting new patients for nearly two days, resulting in immense suffering for those seeking medical help. The strike was called off after a police officer, allegedly involved in the attack, was removed from his post. BIRDEM doctors are still demonstrating for the punishment of the ‘attackers’. The hospital’s senior security officer Md Manik Molla filed a case against Islam’s relatives, naming Additional Superintendent of Police ABM Masud Hossain and Nasrin. In her case, Nasrin blamed five doctors – ‘Azad’, Shamima Akter, Firoz Amin, Kalyan Debnath, and Anowar Hossain – for her father’s death, according to bdnews24.com.