[July 03, 2009] PM adviser Dr Modasser also suspects poison was mixed with food served to Hasina while in prison Tweet Dhaka, Jul 03, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- Health adviser to the Prime Minister Prof Dr Modasser Ali also now alleged that poison was mixed with the food served to Sheikh Hasina while imprisoned in a sub-jail during the immediate-past caretaker government. ?When she (PM) was in prison, I had several times tried to collect her blood sample for diagnosis, but they (Govt) barred me from doing so," he told reporters after attending a programme on the National Birth Registration Day 2009 at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city. Modesser Ali said when Sheikh Hasina was taken to Square Hospital for treatment, the inspector general of prisons and his deputy had said that her personal doctors would treat her. "But the following day they did not allow us to enter the hospital," he said. He informed that Sheikh Hasina was suffering from some allergy problems which might result in losing her hair. A noted eye specialist, Prof Modasser suspected the involvement of Barrister Mainul Hosein and Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin, two former advisers of the caretaker government, along with DIG (prisons) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddiqui in the poison episode. Deputy Leader of the House in Parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury had first dropped the bombshell when she said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was fed poisoned food while she was in prison during the 2007-08 military-installed interim regime. "The leader (Hasina) fell sick after taking the poisoned food and her mouth was swollen. But she never gave in to (pressure)," Sajeda said at another programme marking the birth anniversary of slain national leader AHM Quamaruzzaman in the capital a few days back. She said the prime minister still gets occasional bouts of illness due to the damage caused by the poisoning. Awami League chief Hasina was arrested on July 16, 2007 by the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led interim government on graft charges and was freed on June 12 next year on bail in the turnaround from the emergency rule declared following the 1/11 changeover. Her party says she had been under intense pressure to quit politics and live in exile under a ?minus- two? formula that would also mete out the same destiny to another ex-PM, Khaleda Zia of BNP. Hasina and her archrival BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, who was also arrested, were detained in the makeshift prisons in the parliament complex. Addressing the birth-registration function Health Minister Prof Dr AFM Ruhal Haque said birth registration programme would be forwarded building cooperation between Local Government Division and the Health Ministry. He hoped that ensuring birth registration for all within June 30, 2010 would be possible through making proper coordination of country? s all vaccination centers, community clinics and health complexes. Ruhal Haque informed that since the launch of the Birth Registration Programme, some 55.70 percent people have been given the registration certificates till March 2009. The function was presided over by Manjur Hossain, additional secretary of Local Government Division. LGRD State Minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Project Director of birth and death registration programme and joint Secretary AKM Saiful Islam, among others, spoke on the occasion. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]