|
Illegals getting arrested to receive free medical care
Balurghat, IndiaJan. 24: Infiltration seems to be the shortcut to medical aid. Forty-seven-year-old Altab Hussain crossed over to this side in the hope that he would be picked up by the BSF, sent to jail and subsequently to hospital. Hussains task, however, became difficult when none of the security forces, neither police nor the BSF, spotted him when he crossed the border at Hili, 26 km from here. Finding no other option, Hussain turned himself over at the Balurghat police station a few weeks ago. From then, he has been at the district hospital, being treated for an ailing heart. I had come to the jail several months ago (under another name). Recently, I started having chest pain again and visited the Dinajpur district hospital in Bangladesh. Doctors wanted to refer me to Dhaka Medical College. But there, I would have had to shell out Taka 2 lakh (a little less than Rs 1.3 lakh). I am a mere fish trader and cant afford to spend so much. The best option, I decided, would be to return to an Indian jail, said Hussain. The doctors here have apparently told Hussain that he is responding to treatment. Fatema Bibis case is a bit different. The mentally-challenged woman was pushed into India by her relatives and is currently under treatment at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri. Most of these infiltrators go back at the end of a three-month sentence. Till their return to Bangladesh, all expenses are borne by the Indian government, unlike the thousands who go without free medical aid in rural Bengal. Last week, another Bangladeshi infiltrator, Saifur Rehman, was released and sent back to Bangladesh. Jail sources said he was suffering from frequent bouts of headaches for which he underwent a CT scan at the north Bengal medical college. Records show that of the 474 Bangladeshis in the jail here, 112 have received medical attention (see chart). The superintendent of the district jail, M. Guin, said: We are duty-bound to arrange for treatment as soon as a prisoner falls ill Bangladeshi or otherwise. He admitted that many people from adjoining Dinajpur, Naogaon and Joypurhat districts of Bangladesh sneak into India and court arrest for free treatment. Hussain is only one of them. Posted by: john 2007-01-25 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=178729 |