Patient’s death: Petition to file case against cardiovascular institute director, 10 others

A petition has been submitted to file a case against National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) Director Prof Abdul Wadud Chowdhury and 10 others for allegedly causing the death of a patient through medical “negligence” and also allowing the beating of a relative by a gang of brokers.

Abu Huraira, the son of the deceased Zinnat Ali, made the plea at the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ismail on Thursday.

The petitioner’s lawyer, Mokshedul Hasan Mandal, said, " The court has recorded the petitioner’s statement, and a decision is pending."

In addition to Abdul, the petition has also accused Hridoy General Hospital Executive Director Dr SMM Nirob Hossain, Dr Sirajul, the manager, the assistant manager, receptionist Junaid, NICVD ward boys Shahid, Ashiq, Samiul, and Mashiur Rahman Lavlu, and security guard Saidur.

The plaintiff said in his petition that when his father suddenly fell ill, he was taken to Manikganj General Hospital. From there, he was sent to the NICVD and admitted to the CCU there on Feb 26.

There, ward boy Shahid took the patient to the emergency department and examined him. Later, he came and told Abu that his father had a problem with his head, not his heart and needed to be taken to the ICU. However, Shahid said no vacant ICU beds were available anywhere in Dhaka, including NICVD, but there was a vacancy at Hridoy General Hospital.

Shahid said that Zinnat could get treatment there for less money, costing “only Tk 15,000 per day”.

When Abu agreed, Shahid, Ashiq, Samiul, Mashiur, and Saidur, arranged a car and took Tk 5,000 from him around 8:15pm and admitted Zinnat to Hridoy General Hospital. Ten minutes later, the manager, assistant manager and Junaid came and took another Tk 15,500 for the patient's examination and medicine.

When they came to ask for more money to buy medicine, Abu grew suspicious. He then told Dr Nirob and Dr Sirajul that he would not have his father treated at the hospital. They tried to convince him that the treatment at the hospital was “good”. When Abu insisted, they asked him to go to the reception, pay the bill and take Zinnat away.

When Abu went to the reception, he saw that they had billed him Tk 27,000. He was told that he could not take his father without paying the bill.

Abu alleged in the petition that despite repeated requests for discharge, the manager, assistant manager, and Junaid -- acting on instructions from Nirob -- detained him, assaulted him, and halted his father’s treatment.

The petition states that, after that, Abu was able to collect Tk 12,000 with great difficulty and gave it to the hospital. They released his father around 2:15 pm.

Abu then took his father back to NICVD and admitted him. There, Zinnat died around 3:30 pm.

He wrote that on Feb 28, he returned to the hospital to file a complaint against the ward boys. However, they allegedly snatched his medical documents, beat him up, and threw him out of the hospital, threatening to kill him and turn him over to the police as a thief.

The petition states that when Abu went back again on Mar 2, they tried to turn him over to the police as a thief.

Police, however, released him after seeing a copy of Abu's complaint.

In his petition, Abu sai when he went to the police station to register his complaint, the police station authorities advised him to file a case in court.