'Tree-man' wants treatment abroad

After going through 26 operations at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), a frustrated "tree-man" Abul Bajandar wants to go abroad for "better treatment."

The burn unit of DMCH on January 23, formed a nine-member medical board for Abul Bajandar, who returned to the hospital on Januray 20 after “voluntarily” leaving last year.

Talking to The Daily Star today, Bajandar said he is frustrated and wants help from the prime minister in facilitating treatment for him in abroad.

"The board is seeing me, prescribing tests, but I don't want to undergo the pain and suffering of futile operations anymore," he said.

"But the doctors say that continuous surgery is the only solution," he said adding that he is willing to go for further operations, but only if they guarantee his recovery.

Bajandar said he heard that there are better treatment in many other countries and hopes that he will get better if he could get the opportunity to get treatment abroad.

His mother Amena Begum, 60, also expressed similar aspirations urging the government to give her son a chance at life by arranging treatment for him abroad.

"There are no better treatment for this condition anywhere in the world than what we can provide here," Dr Samanta Lal Sen, national coordinator at the burn institute of DMCH, said.

"We are continuously in touch with specialists from other countries regarding his treatment," he said.

"But he is refusing his treatment procedure. He is not even letting us get his blood tested," he added.