The High Court has ordered the authorities to ensure that pregnant women are tested for Covid-19 on a priority basis.
Following a virtual hearing of a petition on Monday, Justice M Enayetur Rahim issued the order.
The petition which was lodged on May 31 with the High Court after a legal notice on the matter on May 27 did not evoke any response.
Secretaries to the Health Service Division, Women and Children Affairs, chiefs of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control & Research (IEDCR), registrar of the Bangladesh Medical & Dental Council (BMDC), Director of the hospital at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) have been made respondents to the writ.
Advocate Tavir Ahmed argued for the petitioner while Additional Attorney General Murad Reza represented the State.
The petition cited several incidents of pregnant women with coronavirus like symptoms denied treatment, including the May 1 incident when a woman gave birth to child on a rickshaw van in Satkhira as she was not allowed to enter the state-run hospital in the district town.
It also referred to the May 21 incident of Gazipur couple, who were denied treatment at several hospitals in Dhaka as the pregnant wife had a fever, one of the symptoms of Covid-19 as well as another pregnant woman denied treatment at the state-run hospital in Gaibandha’s Sadullapur Upazila on may 26.
All of the incidents were reported in the media, said the petition.
It said the BSMMU hospital in Dhaka has already started testing samples for Covid-19, however, medical staff, journalists, freedom fighters and government official are tested on a priority basis before adding that pregnant women and severely ill persons are not prioritized.
