HC for compensating DU student Tk 5cr

The High Court yesterday issued a rule seeking explanations from the authorities concerned as to why a Dhaka University student -- whose left side was paralysed due to wrong treatment at a private hospital -- will not be compensated with Tk 5 crore.

The bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam issued the rule, after hearing a writ petition filed by Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua.

Mehedi Hasan Shamim, a student of Women and Gender Studies Department of Dhaka University, at a press conference at Dhaka University on April 18, said he was admitted to Square Hospitals in the capital on October 14, 2018 with brain tumour.

After admission, he said his physician Dr Krishna Prabhu suggested that he needed to undergo urgent surgery, and did not disclose anything about its possible risk or post-operative complications.

The operation was conducted on January 23, 2019.

Two days after the surgery, the duty doctor at the hospital informed Shamim’s brother that the left side of his body was not working. When he sought the CD of the surgery for better treatment, the hospital authorities refused to provide it, Shamim alleged.

Jyotirmoy Barua filed the petition on July 14, attaching with it reports published in different newspapers over the incident.

The health secretary, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), president of Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council, Dr Krishna Prabhu and the managing director of Square Hospitals were asked to respond to the rule within four weeks.

The court also asked the hospital authorities to submit all medical documents and the CD of the surgery to the court within a month.