<i>Humiliated humanity</i>
HAPLESS: The seriously burnt woman, admitted to Khulna Medical College and Hospital 20 days ago, still lies unattended on the hospital floor.Photo: STAR
A seriously burnt young woman has remained virtually without any treatment for the last 20 days at Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH), exposing the authorities' utter callousness about hapless treatment seekers. The woman's pitiful condition has failed to arouse sense of humanity among any physician or nurse as her sore and stinking body has become repulsive while there is nobody to bear the cost for her treatment, said a doctor seeking anonymity. The woman, around 24, was admitted to KMCH as an unidentified person after Jayonti Rani Sarder, vice chairman of Dakope upazila parishad in Khulna district, took her there on April 18. As this correspondent visited the ailing woman, lying amid utter negligence on the floor near ward No-11 of KMCH on Tuesday, she feebly said her name is Indrani Mandol and she hails from Koira upazila in Khulna district. After admission to KMCH, her condition continued deteriorating as the burn injuries got septic without proper treatment. Contacted on Tuesday, Jayonti Rani Sarder told this correspondent that the woman had received burn injuries on her whole body from a fire that broke out in a makeshift house at a shrimp enclosure near Dakope upazila headquarters. The upazila vice chairman owns the shrimp enclosure. Mysteriously, Indrani Mandol was found lying naked on the bank of a pond in Skidghat area of Khulna city at around 9:00am on May 30. Informed by locals, police sent her to KMCH again. A middle aged woman and a young man were found dropping the ill-fated woman at Skidghat, eyewitnesses said. She was taken to Skidghat in a three-wheeler van, said Ali Asgar Dalim, a prominent leader of Skidghat Handling Workers' Union. Dr Jotirmoy Saha, assistant registrar of KMCH, admitted that Indrani Mandol's condition has remained critical due to lack of proper treatment. Dr Saha also admitted that Indrani went missing from the hospital for two days on May 28 and 29.
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