Held Fakhrul not getting proper healthcare

With family members and BNP leaders claiming that party acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is seriously ill, the authorities of BSMMU where he was taken for a medical checkup yesterday refuted it.

His physical condition is well and he is not suffering from any new complication, said Brig Gen (retd) Abdul Majid Bhuiyan, director of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU). 

Referring to a medical board's report, he told reporters that there was no reason for the BNP leader to get admitted to the hospital. 
A six-member team led by Dr Rafiqul Alam, chairman of the nephrology department at BSMMU, examined Fakhrul, he added. 

Earlier at 7:45am, Kashimpur Jail-2 authorities brought Fakhrul to the hospital for stomach related complications, said Nashir Ahmed, jailer of Kashimpur Jail-2. He was sent back to the jail around 3:10pm, he added. 

Fakhrul's wife Rahat Ara said that her husband, now 65, had been suffering from multiple diseases including artery blocks, blood pressure, diabetes, and heart complications. He needs to travel abroad to receive better treatment, she added. 

Jubo Dal Vice President Farhad Hossain Azad, an aide of Fakhrul, said the BNP leader lost 15kg in the last 15 days. "We're worried about his health condition." 

Conveying concern on behalf of BNP, the party's international affairs secretary, Ashaduzzaman Ripon, said, "Fakhrul was taken back to jail without being given proper medication."

Addressing a press conference at party's Nayapaltan office, he alleged that other senior leaders like Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Shamser Mobin Chowdhury, Shamsuzzaman Dudu, and Ruhul Kabir Rizvi were facing severe health crises due to a lack of proper treatment in jail.

"We expect government's humanitarian behaviour towards the detained BNP leaders and their proper treatment in specialised hospitals," he added.

Fakhrul was arrested on January 6.