The friends and family members claimed that the tragic death of promising cricketer Tamim Bashir could have been avoided if the training staff of the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s high performance unit had initially taken his problems seriously.
Bashir, who had been training with the unit since it began last month, died of cerebral malaria on Friday after a week-long battle with the fatal disease.
He, however, could have contracted the disease during a visit to Rangamati after the corporate cricket league where he took part for the semi-finalists GrameenPhone, said the family members.
A senior player of the unit told the newsmen that Bashir had been feeling unwell for a few days before he finally left the high performance unit on June 9. Before leaving the camp he informed about his illness to the concerned physiotherapists working with the unit but nobody cared. In spite of arranging necessary diagnosis of his illness, they forced him to continue with the practice.
Azmal Hossain, the local physiotherapist of the unit, admitted that Tamim had informed him about the illness but he was not in a position to prescribe any medicine for the young cricketer. “I told him to inform the matter to Justin Cordy, the Australian physiotherapist working with the unit, so that he can get proper treatment.,”
Justin, who has recently been assigned to the national team, however, refused that he was aware of the fact. “I last saw him on Tuesday (June 8) and he seemed okay. He contracted the virus before coming to the BKSP and the symptoms of cerebral malaria developed only after Tuesday,” Cordy told New Age over telephone.
“I understand the sentiment. But how can I help in the situation now,” asked a nervous Cordy.
Meanwhile, Richard McInnis, the manger of the high performance unit, informed that he last saw Tamim at the practice session on Wednesday and there was nothing wrong with him. “I did not get any complaint from him on that day. If there had been any problem we would have refereed him to the physicians of the BKSP. I was only informed of his illness on Friday when his elder brother rang me to tell that Tamim will not be available for practice because of a fever and I relieved him immediately,” McInnis told the reporters.
Tamim was admitted to the Holy Family Red Crescent Hospital on the following day and was under treatment there till Friday before being shifted to the Renal Hospital at Dhanmondi where he breathed his last.
Tamim was laid to eternal rest at the family graveyard besides his mother at Khalishpur in Khulna after two namaj-e-janazas held at the Khulna Stadium and at Khalishpur. Before taking the body to Khulna the first namaj-e-janaza was held at Babar Road, Mohammadpur, Dhaka.
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