The police on Thursday arrested Ibn Sina Hospital physician Syed Anwarul Abedin and five of the hospital employees hours after the High Court had asked the them to take legal action against physicians and nurses concerned and all the members of the hospital’s trust who were sued for their alleged responsibility for the death of a newborn in the hospital on August 9. The Dhanmondi police officer-in-charge, Mohammad Moniruzzaman, told reporters that a police team had arrested physician Anwarul in the Supreme Court’s premises and the other five — the hospital’s general manager Aminul Islam, assistant administration officers Akter Hossain Khan and Kamrul Hasan and nurses Amena Begum Ayesha Akter — at the hospital.
He said that investigation was under way and other people responsible for the death of the child would be arrested at the instruction of the court.
Earlier, the bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore also asked the Dhanmondi police to take action against the hospital’s deputy general manager (marketing and media) Sultan Mahmud for filing a ‘false’ complaint with the police accusing the victim’s parent of theft and vandalism in the hospital after baby’s death.
Dhanmondi circle police assistant commissioner M Sharifur Rahman and the Dhanmondi police officer-in-charge were directed to report to the court on October 10 on steps taken against gynaecologist Shaida Sultana, paediatrician Syed Anwarul Abedin, two nurses of the hospital and others related to the hospital who were accused in the case.
The court ordered immediate arrest of the accused preventing them to seek bail in the High Court.
It also said that being a rich organisation, Ibn Sina had engaged much expensive lawyers such as Abdul Baset Majumber and Rokan Uddin Mahmud and they could move bail petitions for the accused any time. ‘So you prove after arrests of the accused that the authority of the police is more than that of any other people,’ the court said.
At that time, three lawyers were sitting in the front row of the jam-packed courtroom but they remained silent.
The court also directed Shaida Sultana, Anwarul Abedin and Ibn Sina trustee Quamrul Islam to appear in court on October 16 to explain their conduct.
Quamrul was accused of offering bribe to journalists before a private television channel telecast the incident.
The court, however, asked the police not to harass Ibn Sina trust chairman, Mojibor Rahman, on humanitarian grounds as he is 95 years old.
The police was also asked to inform the court on October 10 of the progress in the investigation of the case.
The court also asked the police to provide adequate security for the victim’s father Idris Sikder, who had lodged the case with the Dhanmondi police on August 25 accusing the two doctors, two nurses and others of their negligence in duties which resulted in the death of the baby.
The Gulshan police was asked to provide adequate security for the television office and the journalist.
The court passed the order after hearing the statements of the father of the baby which died, the Dhanmondi zone’s assistant commissioner, the officer-in-charge and the journalist, Mahbubul Alam Lablu, of the private television channel Boishakhi.
Idris told the court that his wife was admitted to the hospital at the advice of the gynaecologist on August 2 and she gave birth to a male baby through caesarean section. When he told the physician that his wife had earlier given birth to two babies naturally, the physician said that that his wife could have faced difficulty in giving birth to the child naturally, he added.
After the surgery, Idris was told that the baby was well and his mother was unconscious.
The gynecologist was later paid Tk 15,000 for the surgery and the hospital was paid Tk 26,000 for the medical treatment.
The paediatrician later told Idris that the baby needed to be kept in the incubator as he had respiratory problems. The baby was kept in the incubator which cost the family Tk 4,000 a day and his mother was discharged from the hospital.
Idris was called to the hospital at night on August 8 and was asked to pay the incubator bill but he was not allowed to see the baby.
The next day, Idris was told that the baby had died.
Idris told the court that the paediatrician had told him that there were been mistakes in the treatment the diagnosis had been wrong.
When the court asked him why he had not lodged any case against the people responsible for the death before the matter reached the court, Idris said that he had gone to Bhola as his mother died soon after the baby’s death.
The Boishakhi television channel reporter Mahbubul Alam told the court that he had investigated the incident based on the reports published in the daily Manabzamin on August 10.
During his investigation, the hospital’s trustee Quamrul Islam offered him a handsome amount of money and requested him not to proceed with the story. The story was later aired on August 15.
Lablu also said that later he had not responded to Quamrul’s calls and telecast the report. He also submitted to the court a disc with records of the conversation between him and the trustee.
In their statement, the police said that they were not aware of the incident. On receiving the court order, they had communicated with Idris on Wednesday and recorded a first information report filed against the two physicians and two nurses.
On August 17, the court issued a rule suo moto asking the hospital authorities why they should not be punished for their reported negligence in saving the life of a newborn.
On the day, the court also asked the hospital authorities to appear in the court to explain their conduct.
The court passed the order taking cognisance of the Boishakhi’s television report aired on August 15 saying that three newborns had because of negligence of the hospital authorities. The physicians even had kept the bodies of the babies for three days and had not allowed the parents to see the bodies of the deceased babies.
On August 23, the High Court also ordered the hospital authorities to submit by October 9 its wealth statement. The court asked the Ibn Sina authorities to inform the court of the assets the hospital had when it began functioning and the assets it now has.
The order came following a prayer by the attorney general, Mahbubey Alam, during the hearing in the rule suo moto.
-With New Age input
