VIP inmates' health status to be checked

The prison authorities will today examine health condition of the 17 VIP prisoners admitted to different city hospitals and take those needing no more treatment outside back to jail.
Deputy Inspector General (prisons) Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui yesterday said doctors of Dhaka Central Jail would do the check-ups. They would be assisted by the authorities of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
Talking to The Daily Star last night, he said, “We've taken the measures so that others in need of treatment outside can be taken there.”
Arafat Rahman Koko, former lawmaker Mosaddek Ali Falu, former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, former minister Tariqul Islam, BNP leaders Hannan Shah, MA Hashem, Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and Amzad Hossain Sarkar, Awami League (AL) leaders Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Prof Rafiqul Islam and Lotas Kamal, Advocate Sigma Huda, Janakantha Editor Atikullah Khan Masud, ntv Managing Director Eneyatur Rahman Bappi, and former Jamaat lawmaker Mizanur Rahman are among those undergoing treatment in different hospitals.
Sources said former BNP lawmaker from Noakhali-1 Joynal Abedin Faruq have visited BSMMU 67 times in last eight months after his arrest. Besides, ex-Jamaat lawmaker Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher visited hospital 44 times while Khushnud Lobi, wife of former BNP lawmaker Ali Asgar Lobi, has been in hospital since she was arrested.
The DIG prisons said during a visit to the prisons cell at BSMMU he has ordered for the wooden frames to be rearranged so that inmates could be seen from outside.
He said they have also decided to keep one and a half feet space on top of the toilet doors. It would be done so that jail guards can enter the bathroom through there in case of any inmate attempting to commit suicide.
Major Siddiqui said such arrangements are already there in prison toilets.