ars. I just hugged her. While driving through the village to return to Dhaka, our car was stopped many a time. People now knew why we were here and wanted to show their skin problems. Yes, here too, there seem to be many, many patients. We found one male patient with seemingly squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) on the right foot. He said his name was Dural and he was 40 years old. We proposed him to go to Dhaka immediately with us for examination and then possibly for treatment. Being seen off by his family and neighbours, he got in the car. As soon as the car moved, Dural started crying and wailing. Probably he was fearful of the disease having realized that his symptom was similar to Mafiqul‘s. When we arrived at the Yamagata Dhaka Friendship Hospital (YDFH) that evening, Dr. Ekhlasur had just finished his surgeries on Nozrul Islam and Shajahan of Samta village, Jessore district. Nozrul has uncountable warts, normally known as keratosis, on his palms and soles. During the regular check-up in Jessore earlier in April, Dr. Ekhlasur noticed very small black dots on some of those warts which he suspected as a sign of SCC. Because of this change in keratosis, Dr. Ekhlasur has fear that the number of cancer patients will increase alarmingly among arsenicosis patients in future. Nozrul was lying on the bed with his arms and legs wrapped with bandages. Shajahan, who had two SCCs on the face removed, was also lying still unconscious due to the effect of anesthesia. At YDFH, Nozrul‘s wife, Rizia, was also hospitalized. She had tumor at the root of her tongue and was going through treatment with medicines. Lutfor Rahman, who had been in the hospital again since 11th April, complained that the doctor had done nothing on him. Having heard his complaint, Dr. Ekhlasur told me that the hospital was feeding him nutritious food since he needed to
strengthen his body condition for operation. Lutfor underwent surgeries twice in May with his left lung removed finally. Dural had his SCC excised from the right foot on 2nd May. ―It was a very difficult operation‖, said Dr. Ekhlasur. The SCC was at the inside bottom of the foot, below the ankle. ―Not only blood vessels but nerves and tendons run here‖, he explained to me. Dr. Ekhlasur also added: ―I did every thing I could, but micro metastasis may not be avoided. I would like to observe his condition regularly for a while.‖ Abdul Aziz of Marua was taking radiotherapy at the Cancer Hospital in Dhaka in May. On calling him at his hostel, he first thanked AAN for its support. He said: ―Both my son and daughter are still students and we need money for their education. All the savings, however, have gone for my treatment. I am really sorry for depriving them of happy future. I very much appreciate AAN‘s support since it gave me a belief that I would survive with your help. You see, my keratosis has improved after stopping drinking arsenic-contaminated tube well water. Why can‘t I recover from lung cancer?‖ He grinned reassuringly.