A writ has been filed with the High Court seeking license revocation of hospitals that have denied providing treatment to patients defying government directives.
The writ sought court orders to ensure compensation for those who have died while seeking healthcare from different hospitals.
It also requested for court directives to introduce a police hotline number for the general people so that they can file complaints when they are denied or deprived of treatment.
Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Yadia Zaman filed the supplementary petition on Sunday on behalf of Helal Uddin, son of deceased Haji Mohammad Hossain, of Karnaphuli police station in Chittagong.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Advocate Yadia Zaman, said: “On July 2, around 7:30pm, Haji Mohammad Hossain was taken to the Parkview Hospital in Kathalgonj Road of Panchlaish police station, Chittagong as he suddenly fell sick.
“Officials at the emergency department told his family to take him to the CCU on the eighth floor of the hospital. But the officer-in-charge there told them to take Hossain to a different department at the hospital’s fourth floor.
“Helal, the victim’s son, was again and again sent from one part of the hospital to another as officials there suspected Hossian to be Covid-19 positive and denied to admit him and provide treatment until they have a test report that says otherwise.”
“Even after providing the hospital with the test report of Hossain saying that he, in fact, was not infected with the deadly virus, they refused to treat him. Failing to get any treatment, on July 3, the victim died,” he added.
Earlier, pursuant to five writ petitions, the High Court had directed the government to submit a report regarding the hospitals refusing to take in coronavirus patients.
Later the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) submitted a report to High Court claiming that no complaints had been filed regarding the refusal of treatment across the country.
However, several incidents of irregularities in hospitals against Covid-19 patients have been reported in a number of media outlets in the country.
Advocate Yadia, in the petition, annexed some of these reports including one from Dhaka Tribune.
The Dhaka Tribune report titled "Ansar members beat photojournalist at Dhaka hospital" was published on Friday.
According to the report, a clash took place between suspected Covid-19 patients and Ansar members at the Mugda General Hospital on Friday morning over the serial sequence of sample collection.
Ansar members attacked Rubel Rashid, a photojournalist, and broke his camera as he was trying to take pictures of the incident.
Following the incident, Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) has formed a probe body and closed two members of the force.