Serving poor for 3 decades
When he came to the modest rural dispensary for his regular consultation yesterday noon, Shambhu Sarkar was surprised to find it closed. He knew the doctor to be there on time. But today was different.
The 55-year-old tuberculosis patient from Mirzapur village in Dinajpur later heard the news-- doctor Piero Parolari, also a pastor at a local church, was shot and injured by some unidentified assailants a day earlier.
“I could not believe that somebody could do that to him,” Shambhu said. He knew the doctor as a kind-hearted, soft-spoken person.
Three unidentified criminals riding on a motorcycle shot Piero, 57, in the back of his head on Wednesday morning when he was on his way to Dinajpur Medical College Hospital.
Locals rescued and rushed him to DMCH. Later he was taken to the Combined Medical Hospital in Dhaka by a helicopter of Bangladesh Air Force that afternoon.
Born in Lecco, some 50 kilometres north of Milan, Italy on June 27 in 1951, Piero came to Bangladesh three decades ago.
He started his career at a tuberculosis hospital in Rajshahi.
He then went to Dinajpur 15 years ago and started seeing patients there, said Father Silas of Dinajpur Catholic mission.
He worked as a pastor at Dinajpur church and also serves the St Vincent Missionary Hospital in the town and a local catholic mission called Parish Suihari.
He ran a small dispensary at Mirzapur each day from 9 in the morning till 12 noon, and treated about 40 to 50 patients.
Most of his patients were from the lower tier of the society.
He would wake early in the morning, said sister Dipti, his assistant.
After having breakfast, he would go out to visit patients at different hospitals in Dinajpur town. Later in the afternoon, he would again visits patients at Saint Vincent Missionary Hospital in the town.
“This is the routine the doctor had been maintaining ever since he came to Dinajpur,” she told The Daily Star.
Piero's parents are still alive and he has three brothers and a sister. Two of his elder brothers are married and living in Italy while he and his younger sister and the other brother had dedicated themselves to serve humanity, joining the catholic church, said father Silas.
Sister Dipti said even though people knew that he has been hurt, they have not stopped coming to the dispensary for treatment.
He had been serving as a volunteer at the Dinajpur Medical College Hospital.
Belal Hossain, a patient at the surgery ward of the hospital, said the doctor would visit the ward each day and enquire after the patients. He would even check their prescription and sometimes would pay for their treatments.
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