The government will bear all costs of 'tree man' Abul Bajandar's treatment, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim has said.
The minister made the statement at a press conference at Dhaka Medical College Hospital's burn unit on Thursday afternoon.
Nasim also urged the doctors to provide Abul the best treatment.
Talking about Zika virus, he said: "We will seat with experts to take decision on how we will take preventive measures to stop Zika virus attack in the country."
Also Read: World’s fifth ‘tree man’ in Bangladesh
Abul, 26, has been suffering from extremely rare genetic skin disease epidermodysplasia verruciform, which is also referred to as the “Tree Man Disease”, an immune deficiency.
It causes abnormal susceptibility to human papilloma viruses (HPVs), which eventually leads to the overgrowth of scaly macules and papules, especially on the feet and hands.
Abul is the fifth person in the world reported to be suffering from the disease. The others are Ion Toader, Dede Kosawa, Zainal and Ivan. Dede and Zainal hail from the same area in Indonesia. Ivan is from Netherlands but his father grew up in Indonesia while Toader is a Romanian. Except Toader, the other three have genetic roots in West Java.
The problem with “Tree Man Disease” is that there is still no cure. The warts can be surgically removed but they will grow back, sometimes faster, as in the case of Dede Kosawa, who appeared in a Discovery channel documentary “Treeman: Search for the Cure”.