Medical board formed to treat ‘elderly’ child

The child’s parents brought him to Dhaka and admitted him at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Saturday morning, his father Lablu Shikdar told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. Doctors are now running different tests to determine the best possible course of action in treating the child. “It is an extremely rare disease, and this is the first reported case in Bangladesh,” said Dr Samanta Lal Sen, coordinator of the burn institute. “We have formed a medical board of eight members, headed by Dr Md Abul Kalam, head of the burn institute. They saw the patient in the morning [yesterday] and commissioned several tests.” HGPS is an extremely rare genetic disorder that results in rapid ageing during childhood. Children suffering this disorder develop “old-age” health complications and are at high risk of heart attack and stroke. The condition is so rare that only 1 in about four million live births are reported worldwide. According to the United States National Institute of Health (NIH), since the disorder was discovered in 1886, around 130 cases of HGPS have been reported around the world so far. Lablu, his wife Tripti Khatun and their son are natives of Khalia village in Magura’s Mohammadpur upazila. “We had no idea what our son was afflicted with,” said Lablu, who paints houses to earn a living. “Since he was born, we took him to many doctors and kabiraj [village quacks], who said there was no cure. None of them suggested that we bring him to Dhaka.” The desperate parents admitted their child at Magura Sadar Hospital, where a doctor gave the impoverished family money to bring their child to Dhaka. Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Tripti, the child’s mother, said her son’s teeth grew when he was nine months old and he learnt to talk when he was around a year old. “But he was late to walk; he started walking when he was three.” HGPS does not affect intellectual development or development of motor skills, according to the NIH. Lablu and Tripti asked for the government’s help in their child’s treatment. “Doctors say it is a very rare disease. We don’t have money to treat our child. We hope the government will help us.” The government has helped another individual with a rare genetic disorder in the country. Abul Bajandar, 26, from Khulna, was admitted to the DMCH in January because he was suffering from epidermodysplasia verruciformis, more commonly known as “Tree Man Disease,” which causes scaly growth on hands and feet. Bajandar has had several surgeries at the DMCH and doctors hope that he would be able to go back to living normally. The government is bearing the cost of his treatment.