Silicosis kills one more stone crushing worker
Another stone crushing worker died at his house at Bamondal village under Burimari union in Patgram upazila yesterday due to silicosis, a common occupational lung-disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust.
Earlier, labourer Nuruzzaman died in the same village on Tuesday.
The dead was identified as Mazibar Rahman, 50, son of late Yakub Ali of the village.
Mazibar's wife Anju Ara Begum said that her husband used to work at limestone grinding factories in Burimari land port areas of Lalmonirhat.
He worked there for four years and was attacked with the disease a year ago, she said.
By their own expenditure, Mazibar was first treated at Rangpur Medical College Hospital and later taken to the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH) in the capital with the help of Labourer Studies of Bangladesh (BLS), an NGO, a month ago.
“My husband was released from the hospital a week ago as doctors said that he had little chances of recovery,” Anju said, adding her husband died at home yesterday morning.
With Mazibar Rahman, more than 41 limestone grinding factory workers died from silicosis in the last four years, said Momin Ali, joint secretary of Sanjukta Sramik Federation, a trade union federation at the port.
“Only BLS extends help and bears the expenditure for treating silicosis attacked labourers. So far, no other organisations, even any government health department, came forward in this connection,” he said.
He urged the govt for providing proper treatment facility to the silicosis attacked people.
As the limestone crushing factories produce volumes of silica dust, workers of 26 factories at Burimari often get attacked with silicosis and complain of breathing difficulties, said the Patgram upazila health officer Dr. Golam Mostafa.
Confirming the labourer's death from silicosis, Lalmonirhat Civil Surgeon (CS) Dr. Mostafa Kamal said, the disease turned into a big threat for the labourers who used to work at different limestone factories in Burimari land port area.
Silica is the main element of sand and an intense inhalation of the dust can cause silicosis in a few years or even months, depending on the lung condition of the patient, he said, adding a medical team will start working in the area today.
Meanwhile, several silicosis attacked labourers in the port area urged the govt and NGOs for extending them treatment facilities free of cost.
Comments