Renowned child specialist killed in Chattogram

Unidentified miscreants killed a renowned child specialist on Thursday in Chattogram's Sitakunda.

The deceased was identified as Dr Shah Alam, 55, who returned to Bangladesh a year ago after serving at the Madina Hospital in Saudi Arabia for several years.

Police recovered the doctor's body from Ghatghar area of Kumira in Sitakunda on Friday morning. Later, his relatives identified the body.

The incident took place on Thursday night when he was returning to his residence in Chadgaon area from his clinic at Sitakunda's Chhoto Kumira area.

Family members of the slain doctor said Shah Alam set up a clinic named "Baby Care Clinic" at his Chhoto Kumira village soon after he returned to the country from Saudi Arabia. 

He came back only to serve the people of his locality, they said.

Izab Uddin, nephew of Dr Shah Alam and also an employee of the clinic, told The Business Standard that his uncle used to travel his home from the clinic by public transport.

The distance between Chadgaon and Chhoto Kumira is around 30 kilometers. On Thursday at about 9.30pm, Izab helped his uncle get in a human hauler of Safe Line Paribahan from Chhoto Kumira Bypass area. After that, he could not contact the doctor.

"On Friday night, we identified the body of my uncle at Sitakunda Model Police Station," Izab said. 

Rahmatullah, son-in-law of Shah Alam, said he came to Bangladesh after retirement to do something for the people of his village. For this, he established his clinic in 2017 and opened it on January 17 this year. Alam was a student of the 20th batch of Chittagong Medical College and completed his MBBS in 1983.

Dr Mujibul Huq Khan, president of Bangladesh Medical Association (Chattogram Chapter) and a classmate of the deceased, said Alam was very soft-spoken and good in nature.

Such incident will discourage brilliant minds, who are abroad, to return to the country to serve its people, he said.

Shamim Sheikh, inspector (investigation) of Sitakunda Model Police Station, said "We first thought the incident was a road accident, but after seeing the body it seemed somebody murdered him and left the body on the road. We informed the matter to Criminal Investigation Department and it sent the body to Chittagong Medical College Hospital for post-mortem." 

No case was filed in this regard till filing of the report.