Suspected cancer patient becomes crippled after bone taken for biopsy test
Wrong diagnosis and treatment based on the findings have fated a working man to lead a physically disabled life in a place like Dhaka where only the fittest survive.
Mohammad Elias Hossain, 35-year-old former radiographer of Labaid Cardiac Hospital, was diagnosed with bone cancer at Anwara Diagnostic Centre on January 20, 2010. All he had was pain in the right arm.
Soon the wrong findings led to excruciating cancer treatment and then to biopsy. A seven-inch-long portion of his right humerus was replaced by a bone from his right leg. Thanks to the treatment Elias now has a dead right hand and a feeble right leg. Nothing right seems to be working for him.
It would have been easier to avoid talking about his two-member family. But the woman, who completes his life, cannot be left out as she is in no less agony. With the man of the house unable to move the family is running out of breath being plunged into unforgiving poverty.
“I am now completely unable to do anything. My family is going through utter hardship,” said Elias at a press conference in the capital’s Bangladesh Crime Reporters Association yesterday.
He said he was shocked when he later went to Apollo Hospital in the capital for biopsy and came to know that he had no symptom of cancer. He then, upon his doctor’s advice, went to Delta Hospital for a second opinion. They also confirmed Elias that he did not have cancer at all.
Elias then repeatedly contacted Golam Mostafa, owner of Anwara Diagnostic Centre, for compensation. He even had tried to reach him through Labaid hospital, but to no avail.
The owner of the diagnostic centre declined to meet him, said Elias.
Finding no other way, he filed a case against Golam Mostafa on October 5, 2010 bringing allegation of wrong diagnosis that led to his disability. He also demanded Tk 50 lakh as compensation from the owner.
During yesterday’s press conference, Abul Kalam, elder brother of Elias, alleged that Golam Mostafa’s response came in the form of a threat to withdraw the case.
Victim’s wife Bilkis demanded that the government look into the matter so that Anwara Diagnostic Centre compensates.
Contacted, Abdur Rauf Hauladar, manager of the diagnostic centre, refrained from giving any comment without his employer’s consent.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
