<i>Three rescued from seclusion in Bogra are mental patients</i>
A woman and her two sons, now undergoing treatment at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital after 12 years of self-imposed isolation at their Malatinagar Namapara village house in Bogra Sadar upazila, have been suffering from serious mental and behavioural disorders, said doctors.
Fatema Begum, 55, and her sons SM Rezaul Karim Manik, 30, and SM Nurunnabi Ratan, 26, who had been leading abnormal and secluded life since 1999, were rescued and admitted to the hospital on December 12.
"The mother and her sons have been suffering from schizophrenia, a mental illness in which patients need to on medication for a long time to avoid relapses," said Paritosh Kumar Ghose, head of the psychiatry department of Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College in Bogra.
"The two bothers inherited the disease from their mother. They have also been suffering from muscle complications due to lack of physical movement for a long time," said the psychiatrist attending the patients.
Besides, Fatema Begum has been suffering from a serious mental disorder known as morbid jealousy in health science, he said.
"Fatema had to be hospitalised for her mental and behavioural illness in 2005. She used to suspect that I have another wife," said her husband Abdul Latif Sarkar, a former sub-inspector of food department.
"Ratan withdrew from social life after his bad result in the SSC examinations in 1999 and Manik also followed after his HSC examinations in the same year," he said.
Ratan used to avoid any homemade food fearing that his maternal grandmother will try to kill him by mixing poison in the food while Manik did not have the phobia.
"All my efforts to bring my wife and two sons to normal life proved useless," said Abdul Latif.
Afroza Khatun, a neighbour of the family, said locals tried to avoid them because of their mysterious behaviour.
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