File Photo: TİKA
The Turkish state aid agency has donated life-saving medical devices and equipment to a hospital in southwestern Bangladesh, the agency said on Monday.
The donations include an ECG, operating table, dental unit, ophthalmoscope, phototherapy machine, microscope, CTG machine, anesthesia machine, biochemistry analysis machine, autoclave, ultrasound and laparoscopy, said a Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) statement.
Around half a million people are treated each year at Jessore State Hospital, which received the donations, the statement added.
It also said the hospital has a 250-bed capacity as well as 50 doctors and 160 nurses on staff.
After criticizing government treatment of protesting students, a famed Bangladeshi photographer and social activist has been detained by police, officials confirmed on Monday.Abdul Baten, the additional commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told reporters that a Detective Branch team had picked up Shahidul Alam, the founder of the Drik Picture Library, from his Dhaka home on Sunday night, and he is now being questioned over his comments on ongoing student protests.Shaleh Ahmed, one of Alam’s colleagues, also told Anadolu Agency that plainclothes Detective Branch police officers forcibly took Alam away from his home around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday.Bangladesh cracks down on dangerous driving after protestsLast week Alam gave an interview to Al Jazeera English criticizing the government's handling of the protests over traffic safety, which were triggered by the death of two students in an accident late last month.Local newspaper The Daily Star reported that on Saturday Alam was assaulted by “ruling party” men while filming an attack on protesting students in the capital.“I was attacked a little while ago near City College because I was taking a video of Chhatra League [ruling party’s student branch] shouting 'Joy Bangla' and slightly before that attacking students,” Alam said in a video on his Facebook page which went viral, the report added.Bangladesh considers capital punishment for driving deaths “Shahidul Alam must be immediately and unconditionally released,” said Omar Waraich, Amnesty International’s deputy South Asia director.“There is no justification whatsoever for detaining anyone for solely peacefully expressing their views. His arrest marks a dangerous escalation of a crackdown by the government that has seen the police and vigilantes unleash violence against student protesters.”An Associated Press (AP) photographer in Dhaka, who asked not to be named due to security concerns, told Anadolu Agency that reporters come under frequent attack on the job.Student road safety protests engulf capital: BangladeshHe said on Sunday journalists taking pictures during an attack on protesters were themselves assaulted by unidentified youth, leaving five or six badly injured.Policemen on the scene did nothing to stop the attack, he added.In the last two days of the ongoing student protests, at least 200 people, including 12 journalists, came under attack by ruling Awami League members in Dhaka, reported local daily Prothom Alo.Weighing in on the volatile situation, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo said in a statement: “We are deeply concerned about the reports of violence and call on all for calm. The concerns expressed by youth about road safety are legitimate and a solution is needed for a mega city like Dhaka.”
Activist photographer detained by police: Bangladesh
Amid escalating casualties from nationwide student protests, the U.S. envoy’s convoy came under attack from a group of armed adults in the capital Dhaka, said U.S. officials on Sunday.Ambassador Marcia Bernicat and her security team left the Mohammadpur area unharmed after the Saturday night attack, but two security vehicles were damaged, said a U.S. Embassy statement.In a statement on Facebook, the embassy added: “While we do not condone the actions of a few who have engaged in senseless property destruction, including of buses and other vehicles, nothing can justify the brutal attacks and violence over the weekend against the thousands of young people who have been peacefully exercising their democratic rights in supporting a safer Bangladesh.”University and high school students in Dhaka have been protesting for safer roads and justice for their two peers who were killed in an accident in Dhaka on July 29.Bangladesh considers capital punishment for driving deathsAt least 50 people -- including 10 journalists -- were also injured in a clash between police and ruling party members, reported local daily Prothom Alo.Several thousand students also marched on the Dhaka headquarters of the ruling Awami League in Dhanmondi to protest attacks on students on Saturday by Awami’s student branch, injuring hundreds.Speaking to reporters, representatives of Awami and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) blamed each other for the volatile situation.In another development, the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) unit arrested a local actress on charges of spreading rumors online which fueled the protests.Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Sunday warned of stern measures against anyone who tests the government’s patience.He called on protesting students to go home, adding that their demands will be met.The protests also again kept public buses off the streets, causing hardship to commuters in the capital.
US convoy attacked, 50 injured in protests in Bangladesh
Bangladesh's cabinet on Monday will consider capital punishment for traffic accident deaths, a law ministry official said, as thousands of students held protests for a ninth day over the deaths of two teenagers by a speeding bus in Dhaka.Tens of thousands of angry school and colleges students have been demanding changes to Bangladesh's transport laws, paralysing the crowded capital of 18 million, after the two teenagers were killed when a privately operated bus ran over a group of students on July 29."In this amendment it has been proposed to award the highest level of punishment if it is killing by an accident," said the law ministry official, who has been briefed on the matter but declined to be named ahead of a decision.Bangladesh cracks down on dangerous driving after protestsThe current punishment is a maximum jail term of three years. Using the death penalty for road accidents is rare anywhere in the world. Bangladesh's transport authority listed punishments given in different countries that ranged from 14 years in the U.K. in extreme cases to two years in India.Sheikh Shafi, a student of a polytechnic institute in Dhaka who lost his brother in a road accident in 2015, said one of the problems was that bus drivers are not paid fixed monthly salaries instead only earn commissions based on the number of passengers, forcing them to work long hours."Our demand is that the owners must appoint them and they will work a maximum of 10 hours. The commission based system must be eliminated," said Shafi, who was injured while protesting on Saturday.Student road safety protests engulf capital: BangladeshAmid the ongoing protests, an official vehicle carrying the U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh was attacked by a group of armed men on Sunday, some on motorcycles, the embassy said in a statement. There were no injuries but two vehicles were damaged.The embassy has condemned the "brutal attacks and violence" against the students protesters by security forces, a charge the government denies.Police said they did not have an immediate explanation as to why the U.S. ambassador came under attack.
Bangladesh considers capital punishment for driving deaths