The interim government has yet to make a complete list of the people killed and injured during the student-led mass uprising in July and August that ousted the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime on August 5.
Till now, the committee, formed by the health ministry and tasked with the job, got time extension for twice and may get yet another extension of the deadline to complete the list of the individuals killed and injured during the uprising between July 16 and August 5, said officials at the Directorate General of Health Services.
They said that as of Monday the committee confirmed 775 people were killed and 119 others were injured.
The health subcommittee of the Student Movement against Discrimination, meanwhile, has submitted a draft list of 1,612 deaths and over 30,000 injured victims to the government committee for finalisation. Various local and international non-governmental agencies also have come up with their own lists.
Tariq Reza, member secretary of the subcommittee, expressed frustration over the slow progress of the listing, saying that many injured students had yet to know whether or not their names were put on the government list.
As the list is yet not completed, both the people injured in the uprising and the public hospitals meant to give them free treatment face complications over identification.
People with injuries told 抖阴精品 that although treatment was free at the public hospitals, they had to spend considerable sums on conveyance and meals, among other necessities, on the days of their hospital visit.聽
To support the victims the government has already formed July Shaheed Smriti Foundation with Tk 100 crore donation from the chief adviser鈥檚 welfare fund, but the victims till now are not able to lay their claims to foundation鈥檚 support as no victim list has been handed over to it.
On Sunday the government health committee missed the second deadline and appealed for the third time extension.
A health directorate official working for its Management Information System unit said that the information collected by the students鈥� subcommittee had been sent to the respective districts for the final validation which was still ongoing.
He said that the district validation committees, comprising representatives from the respective deputy commissioners and civil surgeons along with a student representative, were working on the validation process.
The students鈥� subcommittee list did not contain the identity details, including addresses and phone numbers, of many victims, leading to the committees to take more time than expected to confirm the details.
鈥楾he health department is going so slow to complete the list that we are thinking to do the task on our own through a non-governmental channel,鈥� said the student health subcommittee鈥檚 Tariq Reza.
Md Aahsan, a vendor at Mirpur-10 intersection, said that he sustained injuries on August 4 during his participation in the protests demanding Hasina鈥檚 resignation.
鈥楾wo individuals called and asked me for details. I gave them the details, but not sure whether they enlisted me,鈥� he said over phone.
On the Facebook page of the July Shaheed Smriti Foundation several others were seen asking for enlistment as injured. They, however, were not seen to receive any reply from the foundation.
Officials at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation, which provided treatment to over 500 victims, mostly with orthopedic injuries, said that 64 patients were still undergoing treatment there while many others were making follow up visits.
Hospital鈥檚 deputy director professor Badiuzzaman said that 21 victims needed limb amputation鈥�17 people lost one leg and four lost a hand.
National Institute of Opthalmology and Hospital officials said that a total of 736 victims took treatment at the hospital for pellet injuries they sustained during protests.
At the hospital, so far, 504 patients underwent surgeries, 251 of which had retina surgeries. Some of the patients each needed four eye surgeries, professor Khair Ahmed Choudhury, director of the hospital, said.
He said that 50 of the victims sustained injuries in both eyes, while 676 people had injuries in one eye.
On Sunday, the hospital conducted cornea transplantation surgery for two victims. The corneas were collected from Nepal, said the director, adding that some 60 injury patients were needed cornea transplantation.
Abu Hanif, 19, a Qawmi Madrasah student, is undergoing treatment at the hospital for pellet wounds on his right eye he had sustained as the police fired from shotguns to disperse the protesters on Chashara Road in Narayanganj on August 5.
Hanif said that the physicians did two operations on his eye and he came to the hospital for the third one.
鈥楾he hospital is providing free treatment, but I had to spend over Tk 30,000 so far for conveyance, meals, attendant and other expenses. My father is a poor farmer. He borrowed the money from relatives,鈥� he said, demanding further support.
Many families, meanwhile, continue to demand the trace of their dear ones who went missing during the uprising.
Anjuman Mufidul Islam, a burial service provider for unclaimed or unidentified bodies, said that it buried 115 bodies in July and August.
Earlier, health adviser to the interim government Nurjahan Begum after visiting the central police hospital in the capital鈥檚 Rajarbagh on Augst 29 said that more than 1,000 people were killed and over 400 blinded during the student-led mass uprising.
Non-governmental rights organisation Human Rights Support Society on August 21 published a report, based on information collected from the victims鈥� families, hospitals, witnesses, and national dailies, that said 819 people were killed during the uprising.
According to a primary report of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published on August 16, as many as 650 people were killed in Bangladesh during the student-led protests between July 16 and August 11.
Of them, nearly 400 deaths were reported from 16 July to 4 August, while around 250 people were reportedly killed following the new wave of protests in August 5鈥�6.
The UN office also found that the security forces, including the police and Border Guard Bangladesh, used unlawful lethal weapons, deliberately targeting unarmed people.
Among others, students, workers, women and girls were killed in indiscriminate firing by the security agencies and Awami League鈥檚 gunmen during the July-August mass uprising.
