The seven-member bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, did not pass any order on a petition filed by medicine supplier ‘Irish Enterprise’ seeking a stay on the High Court order.
Amit Das Gupta, who filed a writ petition in the form of public interest litigation, said there is no bar to the execution of the High Court order following the Appellate Division order.
Earlier on October 21, the High Court ordered Impact Masudul Haque Memorial Hospital and its medicine supplier ‘Irish Enterprise’ to pay as compensation Tk 10 lakh to each of the 17 people who lost their eyesight following the wrong treatment.
According to the HC order, Impact Masudul Haque Memorial Hospital and Irish Company had to pay Tk 5 lakh each to every victim.
The hospital distributed the compensation money on November 13 as per the HC order.
But the medicine supplier filed a petition with the Chamber Judge Court seeking a stay on the HC order.
On November 11, the Chamber Judge did not pass any order and sent the petition to the full Appellate Division.
Advocate Das Gupta filed the writ with the HC following a report published in a national daily on March 29 stating that 20 people had lost their eyesight following a surgery at a three-day eye camp.
Following the writ petition, the HC bench on April 1 issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain why Tk 1-crore compensation would not be given to each of the 17 people who have lost their eyesight after surgery at Impact Memorial Community Health Centre in Chuadanga on March 5.
On March 5, a total of 24 patients underwent cataract operations at the hospital and all the patients were released a day after the surgery. But a few hours later, 20 of them felt severe pain in their eyes due to infection. Sensing danger, the hospital authorities secretly took them to Islamia Eye Hospital and Vision Eye Hospital in Dhaka.
Later, each of the 20 patients had to settle for a surgery and their infected eyes were removed.