Doctor's Negligence Alleged
Commerce college teacher's death sparks violent protest
Students of Dhaka Commerce College block a road near the college protesting the death of one of their female teachers after giving birth allegedly due to negligence by a doctor and authorities of Dr Azmal Hospital in the city's Mirpur yesterday. Inset, Grieving female students try to console each other on hearing news of the death.Photo: STAR
Over 300 students of Dhaka Commerce College went on a rampage at Dr Azmal Hospital in the city's Mirpur yesterday after a teacher of the college died allegedly due to negligence of a doctor and the hospital authorities. The students vandalised the ground floor of the nine-storied hospital including some machinery, a pharmacy and doctors' chambers for around an hour using metal rods, sticks and blunt weapons, said witnesses. Five of the hospital staffs were injured and 20 vehicles in adjacent areas were damaged during the rampage, they said. The deceased Trisha Ganguly, 32, an assistant professor of Bangla department, was admitted to the hospital when she went into labour around 5:00am yesterday. She gave birth to a girl around 8:00am through caesarian section but was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of another hospital in Mohammadpur as her condition deteriorated. She passed away around 11:30am, said Dr Ferdousi Begum Rumi, the accused who delivered the baby and was supervising Trisha's treatment. When Trisha's body was brought to the college around 1:30pm, the students went berserk, vandalising some 8 to 10 cars near Dhaka Zoo and of similar numbers at Shiyalbari. They then went to vandalise the hospital at Mirpur section 6, said witnesses. Afterwards, police chased the agitating students towards Mirpur 10 where 13 of them were detained, said Kazi Wazed Ali, officer-in-charge of Mirpur Police Station. The detained students said they heard that Trisha was administered the wrong dosage of anesthesia while there was neither any ICU nor adequate medical equipments at the hospital. The damages are an estimated Tk 50 lakh, said the hospital Director Mir Atahar Ali, alleging that the students also looted Tk 2.5 lakh from the cash counter. The hospital's Operation Theatre (OT) In-Charge Kuholi Nasrin said Trisha's family hired Dr Ferdousi and her team, comprising an anesthetist and another doctor, to perform the operation. Dr Ferdousi then rented only the hospital's OT for Tk 3,000 and performed the operation where only the hospital's nurses, not the doctors, took part, she said. Dr Ferdousi said Trisha was under her supervision for some days before the operation. Trisha had low blood pressure, which was brought to normalcy by administering drugs right before the delivery. But it began to fall immediately after she gave birth and she passed away though they gave their utmost effort to save her, said Dr Ferdousi. The college remained closed yesterday following Trisha's death and will remain closed today, said the vice principal.
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