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To the doctors, nurses, and shifting crowds of patients at the Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, he is simply known as "Ali Chacha".
Nearly two and a half years ago, an unknown soul brought a severely ill Ali Hossein to the hospital and vanished. Ali recovered, but no one ever came back to claim him. With nowhere else to go, the hospital corridors and sterile wards quietly became his only home on earth.
A visit to the 5th floor of the hospital’s new building—specifically Ward 33 of the Medicine Department—reveals a reality that is as devastating as it is humbling. There, tucked away on the floor beneath beds 19 and 20, lies Ali Chacha.
The environment around him speaks of profound neglect. Cockroaches crawled above his head, and hundreds of bedbugs and pests swarmed the damp clothes stored in his water bucket. As he lay helpless on the bare floor, insects were actively crawling all over his frail body. Clad in a soiled vest, the elderly man looked entirely out of place. When pressed about why an octogenarian is being kept on the floor, the ward boys offered a defensive explanation: "He falls off the hospital beds, so we kept him down here for his own safety."
Trying to speak with Ali Hossein is a lesson in patience and heartbreak. In a broken, trembling voice, he managed to tell this reporter that his home is in the Nandipara village of Baniachong. He mentioned having two brothers, Alamgir and Jahangir. His memory, clouded by age and trauma, fluctuates; at one moment he says he has two sons, and the next, he whispers that he has absolutely no one left in the world. He was married once, he notes, but his wife is no longer with him.
According to Liton, a hospital ward boy, and several relatives of neighboring patients, Ali Chacha has been completely immobile for the last year and a half. Unable to walk, he relies entirely on the collective humanity of the ward. Ward boys and compassionate bystanders take turns feeding him and bathing him. It seems that anyone who uncovers the depth of his helplessness is moved to watch over him.
But time is running out for Ali Chacha. With each passing day, his physical frailty deepens. He can no longer chew solid food. When this reporter offered him apples and grapes, the elderly man could only point weakly to his mouth, silently communicating his inability to eat them.
The tragic plight of Ali Hossein eventually reached social media, catching the eye of Munzer Ahmed Choudhury, the founder and publisher of The Daily Dazzling Dawn—the premier British-Bangladeshi English mainstream news outlet based in the UK.
Stirred to immediate action, Choudhury instructed the outlet's Senior Journalist in Bangladesh, Shuvo Gowala, to rush to the hospital.
Upon arrival, Shuvo, representing The Daily Dazzling Dawn, moved swiftly to restore some dignity to the old man's life. The news organization purchased fresh clothes, warm blankets, daily essentials, and an organizer rack to keep his belongings hygienic. Shuvo immediately ensured that Ali Chacha's living space was thoroughly cleaned, sanitized, and cleared of pests, pledging that this deep cleaning will be maintained regularly moving forward.
There is a glimmer of long-term hope on the horizon: a local social worker in Sylhet has reportedly initiated steps to move Ali Chacha to an elderly care home. Until then, The Daily Dazzling Dawn has pledged to stand firmly by his side, vowed to support his medical treatments, and committed to providing for his needs to the very best of their ability.
Furthermore, The Daily Dazzling Dawn has announced that it will provide all necessary assistance and logistical support to anyone else who wishes to step forward and stand by Ali Chacha during this difficult time.
Ali Chacha spent years slipping through the cracks of a busy world, but in his darkest hour, human kindness refused to let him remain forgotten.
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