Lamia lies in agony

Nearly a day and a half after she was hit by a stray bullet in front of her own house, 15-year-old Lamia was lying in a bed at Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH) in unbearable anguish last night, the piece of metal still lodged deep inside her body.

"My daughter could not sleep all night. How am I supposed to live if something happens to her?" said an inconsolable Reshma Mollah, Lamia's mother, when contacted by this newspaper yesterday.

Hospital authorities' lax attitude towards her treatment, meanwhile, have frustrated the family, who were thinking of alternatives.

Lamia Akhter was hit by a stray bullet around 11am on Friday.  According to eyewitness and police, four extortionists came to the house of Sheikh Yusuf Ali, a contractor living on a road next to Arafat Jame Mosque in Mistripara under Khulna Sadar and demanded money. At one point in the altercation, Yusuf fired shots from his licensed pistol at the extortionists, one of which hit Lamia in her left leg.

She was immediately rushed to to Khulna Medical College Hospital.

Lamia's grandfather Habibur Rahman told the Daily Star that Lamia had been in excruciating pain since the shooting, even after the bleeding stopped.

"It was not possible to remove the bullet through surgery as there was no experienced doctor on Friday," said Habibur, adding that a board formed for her treatment was supposed to decide on her course of treatment.

"Today, doctors prescribed an MRI for her, saying after getting MRI report they would operate. We went to City Medical College but doctors could not perform the MRI because of the metal bullet in the body," he added.

"Doctors told us it not possible to operate now; it might be three to four days later, or never," Habibur told this correspondent.

Dr Mehedi Nawaz, head of orthopedics at KMCH and a member of the medical board formed for her treatment, said as per the board's decision, they had asked for an MRI to determine the position of the bullet.

Asked why they sent the patient for MRI as it would not be possible due to the metal bullet, he said they were not aware that the bullet was metallic.

"We have asked the family to do a CT scan and an ultrasonogram; after getting the report, we will know the position of the bullet. If it is too close to a blood vessel, we cannot operate because we don't have an expert for that. Otherwise, we will operate on her on Monday, since tomorrow [today] is a holiday [Ashura]," he told this newspaper.

Contacted, KMCH Director Munshi Reza Sikandar said his responsibility was to form a medical board, and he has done that. "The board will decide on her treatment," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

Contacted yesterday evening, Lamia's mother said they did not go through with the imaging tests. "It has been too long and they are not doing enough. We are thinking of taking her to Dhaka, although we don't know yet exactly where to go for her treatment," she said.

Asked whether they were willing to wait till Monday for surgery, Reshma said, "They did not tell us about a surgery on Monday. What if it's too late and more complications arise?"

Asked if Yusuf Ali -- the man who fired the bullet -- checked in on Lamia, Lamia's grandfather Habibur said Yusuf's relatives visited her at the hospital. The contractor also said he will pay for the treatment, and one of his brothers was in constant touch with them.

Asked if he would file a case against Yusuf, Habibur said, "The contractor did not shoot her on purpose. He shot to escape the extortionists."

Tariqul Islam, one of Lamia's neighbors told The Daily Star that Lamia and her mother was abandoned by her father when she was one year old. From then on, Lamia's mother worked as a house help to provide for her daughter.

Ashraful Alam, officer-in-charge of Khulna Sadar Police Station, said Sheikh Yusuf Ali filed a case against four unidentified extortionists. No arrests have been made so far. The pistol used in the incident, 10 rounds of unused ammunition and two rounds of ammunition shells were seized.