Govt to do everything for development of medical science: PM

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DHAKA, Aug 17, 2019 (BSS) – Putting emphasis on advancing the country’s
medical science further, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said her government
will do whatever is necessary for the development of the field.

“We want to do everything necessary for the development of medical science as
well as education and higher education including sending teachers and other
concerned abroad,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina added: “We’ll have to pursue all sorts of education so we can
do more critical works like succesful operation of conjoined twins – Rabeya
and Rukaya – in our country.”

The prime minister said this when the medical team comprising Bangladeshi and
Hungarian doctors and other staff who carried out the operation of the
conjoined twins at the CMH in Dhaka recently called on her at her official
Ganabhaban residence here last night.

Sheikh Hasina said the Bangladeshi physicians gathered a huge experience
through the surgery of conjoined twins titled “Operation Freedom”. “Now we’ll
have to focus on further development of medical science by retaining this
success,” she said.

Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services Major General Md Fashiur
Rahman, Colsuntant Surgeon General of DGMS Major General Mahbubur Rahman, Dr
Habibe Milllat, MP, Dr Csapody, the leader of the Hungarian medical team and
its members Dr Csoky and Dr Pataki and other physicians and staff who took
part in the operation spoke at the function.

Besides, Rabeya and Rukaya’s father Rafikul Islam also spoke at function
expressing his feelings about the successful surgery of her twin daughters.

Sheikh Hasina congratulated the physicians, nurses and other staff including
the members of the Hungarian medical team for conducting the operation
successfully.

“It’s a wonderful job of the Bangladeshi and Hungarian doctors,” she said,
hoping that the twin kids will return to their mother’s lap with full
recovery soon.

Through the successful surgery, she said, the physicians of the government
institutions of Bangladesh gathered a new experience.

The prime minister said the successful surgery of Rabeya and Rukaya has
opened the eyes and ears of Bangladeshi doctors.

“A beautiful relation has been created among different hospitals and medical
institutions centering the critical operation,” she said.

Praising the coordinated work of the physicians of those hospitals and
institutions, the prime minister said these institutions worked together and
developed understanding and exchanged experiences through it.

“You’ve separated the conjoined head of Rabeya and Rukaya through a
successful surgery. But they’ve engaged you in a coordinated work and it’s a
great achievement for all,” she said.

The prime minister said the medical institutions which were involved in the
surgery of the conjoined twins will have to be more developed and modernised
in the light of their experience.

Sheikh Hasina elaborated her government’s steps for development medical
science and said the country’s first medical university was established
during the Awami League government.

The Hungarian medical team members highly appreciated the wonderful
cooperation with the Bangladeshi doctors centering the surgery. It’s like a
unification of two countries, they said.

They also praised the unique hospitality of the Bangladesh government in this
regard. The successful surgery of the conjoined twins has created a new type
of friendship between Bangladesh and Hungary, they remarked.

Speaking on the occasion, Rabeya-Rukaya’s father Rafikul Islam expressed
gratitude to the prime minister for taking responsibility for treatment of
his daughters.

He also thanked the Bangladeshi and Hungarian doctors who performed the
surgery of his daughters.

The conjoined twins were separated after a successful 33-hour operation at
the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on August 2.

The operation was carried out with the support of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina and Defenceless People Foundation (ADPF), an agency of the Hungarian
government.

Earlier, the twins were sent to Hungary for treatment and Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina bore their entire treatment cost at home and abroad.

The three and half years old twins, who were born with joint heads, suffered
from a rare embryological disorder affecting an estimated one in every five
to six million births. They hail from Chatmohor upazila in Pabna.

The doctors said the surgery of the conjoined twins was very rare one in the
world. Only 17 such operations were carried out in the world so far and the
surgery of Rabeya and Rukaya was first in the entire Asia, they said.