On their return home, the two sisters, who had been suffering from serious mental and behavioural disorders, thanked all who helped them return to normal life.

"We will now set up a charitable clinic in our house to provide treatment for deprived people," said Rita, who is a doctor.

The two, Engineer Nurunnahar Mita and Dr Ainunh Nahar Rita, had been leading an extremely confined and secluded life, being engrossed in religious practice and supernatural beliefs at their paternal house at Block-9, Section-6, Mirpur since 1996.

In July last year, a team of the Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR) managed to convince the sisters and enter the house with the cooperation of Pallabi police and took them to a clinic for immediate treatment.

Since then, they had been under the treatment of psychiatrist Dr Mohit Kamal at Prottoy Medical Clinic at Banani.

The two sisters yesterday arranged a programme at their newly renovated house on the occasion of their return home.

Speaking as the chief guest, Dr Kamal Uddin Siddique, principal secretary to the prime minister, said Rita and Mita are very brilliant students and they will live a normal life again.

He also said that he would help them get jobs in their respective fields as per the direction of the prime minister.

Rita obtained her MBBS degree from Salimullah Medical College in 1988 and joined the government service in 1991 but resigned in 1996.

Mita, who graduated from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) in 1992, served at the Sylhet Gas Field in 1994, Gas Infrastructure Development Project in 1996 and Buet's Petroleum Engineering Department in 1997.

Psychiatrist Dr Mohit Kamal, who treated the sisters, said they have fully recovered from their mental disorders, but they now need to be rehabilitated in their professional lives.

He said they had been suffering from a serious mental disease caused by a multi-factorial situation.

One isolates oneself from the society and social life the way the two sisters have done only when one is schizophrenic, he added.

He also said mental breakdown, suspicion, sense of insecurity and various social pressures might have caused their serious mental disorder.

Citing a WHO survey, Dr Mohit said that one percent of the population in Bangladesh suffer from serious mental diseases while 10 percent suffer from minor mental disorders.

Dr MA Hadi, president of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), said the case of the two sisters has sent a message to the mental patients that such diseases are curable.

Dr Firoz Mahmud Iqbal, assignment officer to the PM's Office, Advocate Elina Khan, executive director of BSEHR, AZM Zahid Hossain, secretary general of BMA, Nazmul Haque, managing director of Prottoy Medical Clinic, and Kamurn Nahar Hena, elder sister of Rita and Mita, also spoke.