Giving love to the forgotten

What would you do coming across an injured stranger on a hospital floor with no attendant?

Such patients, especially if unidentified and with no family around, are the most hapless at hospitals. Most do not bother about them and ignore their sufferings.

But one 28-year-old youth from Feni is not like any other ordinary man for he has a heart of gold. That's because since 2013, Md Nasar has been selflessly serving patients listed as “unidentified” on arrival at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH).

Spending five hours every day from 6:00pm, he has been able to come to the aid of some 300 persons, including 59 this year. Counting those helped since he embarked on the initiative in 2007, the total figure is around 700.

Some of the injured persons cannot talk, Nasar told The Daily Star. “Their condition remains very miserable amidst blood and dirt, some even urinating or defecating in their clothes,” he said.

Many nurses and doctors do not want to touch such patients and leave them uncared for in a corner, said Nasar. He starts off by getting staff to bathe such patients and bring new clothes. He then helps them get medical checkups and remains by their side so that staff provides proper care.

Once patients are able to talk, he notes addresses and informs relatives, said Nasar. If anyone wants to thank him, he asks them to do the same for others.

Youngest among four brothers and with a younger sister, Nasar was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Spending his childhood in Chittagong city's Oxygen area where his father ran a small pharmacy, he went to Feni in 2006 to complete his diploma in mechanical engineering.

It was there that he first came across the plight of unidentified patients. Moreover, many people would come to the polytechnic college near Feni Sadar Hospital seeking blood donations.

He had the same experience while caring for his terminally ill father at CMCH for around one and a half months in 2007. Starting to frequent the Feni hospital, he could initially only spend time with patients and provide old clothes.

He took up a job at an export processing zone factory in Chittagong and started spending a substantial portion of his income for patients at CMCH after office hours as a shipping company's technical officer.

His experience in the first few months was bitter as police and doctors used to often bar him from entering suspecting he was one of the many middlemen thronging the establishment. “But in the course of time, they found out why I come here,” said Nasar, who also volunteered during the Rana Plaza tragedy.

Initially he had to search for “unidentified” patients. Now he gets a call from hospital police and staff whenever such patients arrive. “Most...are accident victims and remain at ward 26 and 28,” he said.

Nasar opened www.mdnasar.org, with a software engineer's support, earlier this year keeping photos and updates on unidentified patients. He said his website could be a great help for those who want to serve selflessly like him.

And his dream is not to end there but to spread services across the country.