Take action against doctor responsible

The High Court yesterday directed Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) to take appropriate action against Sheikh Hosne Ara, who performed a caesarean operation on Khadiza Begum and delivered a baby leaving its twin inside the womb in Comilla's Gouripur.  

The BMDC will take action on the basis of the investigations conducted by two probe committees led by the civil surgeon of Comilla. Hosne Ara cannot do any surgeries until the BMDC takes the action, Assistant Attorney General Arobindu Kumar Roy told The Daily Star, citing the HC order.   

The HC asked Mojibur Rahman, managing director of Gouripur Life Hospital and Digital Diagnostic Centre in Daudkandi upazila, whose doctor is Hosne Ara, to pay Khadiza Tk 3 lakh as compensation. 

The bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice AKM Zahirul Hoque also ordered the director general of the Directorate General of Health Services to investigate the incident and take legal action against Mojibur.

It came up with the order after the hearing on a suo moto rule issued by the court earlier following the incident of leaving a foetus inside the woman's womb after delivering a baby.

On September 18, Hosne Ara delivered Khadiza's baby girl.

An ultrasonogram report during the seven month of Khadiza's pregnancy showed that she was carrying twins. However, during surgery, the doctor delivered one baby and stitched up the mother's womb without delivering the other, conjecturing that the other was a tumour.

Soon after the surgery, Khadiza started to suffer from various complications. After another ultrasonogram revealed that the other twin was still inside her womb, Khadiza was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on October 22.

On October 25, DMCH doctors carried out another surgery on Khadiza to deliver the baby left out but it was stillborn.

The HC on October 29 issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain why appropriate action should not be taken against the persons responsible for the incident.

The court issued the rule after barrister Mahfuzur Rahman Milon, a Supreme Court lawyer, placed newspaper reports on the incident before the HC judges.