With crushed skull, Ctg medical student Akib fights for life

A grim photo of injured Akib has gone viral on Facebook. In the photo, his whole head is wrapped in white bandage inscribed with the writing "no bones, do not apply pressure".

The boy from Cumilla who went to Chittagong Medical College to fulfill his father's dream to make him a doctor is now languishing in a hospital bed fighting for life after getting severely injured in a clash between two factions of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) on the campus on Saturday.

SM Noman Khaled Chowdhury, head of the neurosurgery department at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital, told The Business Standard that Akib's brain had been severely damaged due to external injury. His skull was crushed by a heavy blow, causing internal bleeding in the brain.

"In this condition, a part of the skull has been removed by surgery and for the time being, it has been placed under the skin of his abdomen to keep it at body temperature," he said.

The procedure is called "decompressive craniectomy with evacuation of epidural and subdural hematoma".

The cranial part will be placed back once his condition improves," the doctor said.

Md Mahadi Akib's father, Golam Faruk Majumder, is a teacher at Cumilla Zilla School. "Akib is a very talented student. My dream is to make my son a doctor. But the boy who came to be a doctor is now in the ICU," he said.

"With a limited income, I had to struggle to send my two sons to universities. But, I never let them feel any cash crunch. Only fathers know how painful it is to find their children fighting for life in an ICU," said the father, choked with emotion.

Golam Faruk cannot fathom how students get involved in fighting under the umbrella of political parties.

"Medical college is a place of professional study. Students come here to study and become doctors. After studying, boys and girls will become doctors – this is the expectation of all parents," he said.

Akib's maternal uncle Delwar Hosen said Akib had moved to the medical college dorm around a week ago.

"Akib told his mother that he did not feel like moving away from home. Then his parents convinced him to go to Chattogram," recalled Delwar.

Akib passed his SSC from Cumilla Zilla School securing the highest grade points – Golden GPA-5. He got Golden GPA-5 in HSC from Notre Dame College as well. After that, he got admitted to Chittagong Medical College and is now in the second year of his MBBS programme.

Like Akib's father, all netizens who are shocked to see Akib's photo are criticising such a brutal form of politics on an educational institution's campus.

Md Emon Sikder, a witness of the incident and also a BCL leader of CMC, told TBS that the opponents attacked Akib in front of the CMCH main gate at 9am on Saturday.

"Akib was bound by a rickshaw chain around his neck. He was hit with a glass bottle on the head. Later, his head was smashed with a hockey stick," he said.

Panchlaish Police Station Inspector Sadiqur Rahman told TBS that Akib's friends filed a case with the police station on Saturday night, against 16 identified and eight unidentified persons. A section of the BCL, led by fifth-year student Toufiqur Rahman, filed the case.

Two BCL activists named Raktim Dey, 21, and Enamul Hossain alias Shimanto, 21, were arrested in this connection on Saturday night. Both of them are second-year students of CMC, he added.

Meanwhile, the medical college was shut down on Saturday for an indefinite period following a series of clashes between two BCL factions on the campus. The students were ordered to leave the dormitory hall by Saturday evening.

At least three students were critically injured in the clashes that erupted over establishing dominance on the campus.

The three injured – Mahfuzul Haque, 23, Naimul Islam, 20, and Md Mahadi Akib – were admitted to CMCH.

A five-member probe committee, led by Dr Motiur Rahman of the hospital, has been formed to look into the incident.

The probe body has been asked to submit its report within seven working days.