Release dead body even if bills due: HC to hospitals

Staff Correspondent: The High Court (HC) ordered hospitals and clinics to release dead body of poor and marginalised people even if they fail to pay the due bills.

It ruled that no hospital or clinics can keep the dead body of poor and destitute people confined in the hospital if their family cannot pay the treatment bill of the hospital.

The HC bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Md Ataur Rahman Khan passed the order on Monday.

The court also directed the health secretary and director general of the Department of Health Services to form a fund to pay the treatment bill.

The court ruled that there is no scope to keep the dead body of poor people confined in the hospital if their family fails to pay the hospital bill.

Advocate Manzill Murshid moved for the petitioner while, Deputy Attorney General Amit Talukdar stood for the state.

On June 8, 2012, a poor man admitted his son to Mohammad City Hospital. Later, the hospital authority refused to release the body of victim's son after he died under treatment in the hospital. Later, Manzill Murshid filed the writ petition.



risingbd/Dhaka/Nov 20, 2017/Mehedi/Nasim