Govt should issue formal 'Health Bulletin'

WE think the confusion created due to the lack of information about Sheikh Hasina's health centring around her hospitalisation, sudden discharge and return to sub-jail was entirely unwarranted and avoidable. It should have never been allowed to happen.
The current situation is not only unnecessary, it has also damaged the image of the government considerably because of the very opaque manner in which the issue of Hasina's illness has been dealt with, both in terms of the substantive treatment and the fact that the public is unaware of the actual condition of the ex-prime minister's health. The confusion was only confounded in the absence of an official health bulletin, a normal procedure associated with a person who had held the highest elected office of the state.
It needs to be emphasised that so long as Sheikh Hasina is in government custody, it's the latter's responsibility that she receives the highest level of medical attention and people are also kept informed of her state of health.
The fact is that it was the government which deemed her condition grave enough to require hospitalisation and attention of relevant specialists. And that is why she was moved to the hospital from the sub-jail. It is now again the government's opinion that she need no longer be in hospital, and that is why she has been reverted back to the sub-jail. However, we are not aware of the development as regards her illness, and except for the terse statement of one from the jail authorities that she has been discharged from the hospital the public is ignorant about the current state of her health and of the future course of treatment.
Hasina's ailment may not be life threatening and the treatment may be a long process. That is why it is even more essential to keep the public up-to-date about her condition. It is a normal practice to issue health bulletins in respect of important personalities, once they are under treatment of doctors whether in or out of hospital. And Hasina is an important personality, information regarding whose condition must not be kept out of public knowledge. It is dangerous to do so since that gives rise to all kinds of speculation and all types of motives are ascribed to the government, an entirely unacceptable outcome of an issue that could have been avoided had it been handled in a more sensitive and transparent manner.