The protesters injured during the student-led mass uprising blocked the road in front of the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation for hours, demanding a meeting with health and family welfare adviser Nurjahan Begum over mismanagement in their treatment.
This was the first demonstration by the victims of the July-August uprising blocking the city鈥檚 major road after the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus took over on August 8 following the fall of the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina.聽
They blocked the road in the capital鈥檚 Sher-e-Bangla聽 Nagar at around 2:00pm on Wednesday alleging that the health adviser to the interim government, who visited NITOR at 11:30am to check on those still undergoing treatment at NITOR, left the hospital without meeting all injured of the movement.
They announced that they would not leave the road until the health adviser met them and heard their demands.聽聽聽
Md Shahidul Islam, a patient of NITOR who was shot in the left hand in Mirpur-13 on July 19, alleged, 鈥楽he only met a few patients in Ward A. We wanted to share our demands with her, but she left the hospital without hearing us, so we blocked the road.鈥�
鈥榃hen we tried to stop the health advisor鈥檚 car, it attempted to run over us, injuring three people, including me,鈥� he added.聽
Protesters alleged that they are not receiving proper treatment at hospitals and several hospitals discharged them before completing their treatment, leading to further complications in their health conditions.
A patient of NITOR, speaking anonymously, claimed that his leg was amputated due to negligence in treatment and that he was discharged from the hospital before his treatment was completed.
Aggrieved patients from different facilities also criticised delays in disbursement of funds from the July Shaheed Smriti Foundation, established with Tk聽100 crore in donations to support the injured and the families of those affected by the movement.聽
They also criticised the interim government for its failure to ensure proper treatment and begin their rehabilitation, despite more than three months passed since the Awami League regime was toppled on August 5.
More than 60 victims of the movement undergoing treatment at other hospitals, including National Institute of Opthalmology and Hospital, also joined the protest blocking the road that continued till filing of the report at 8:30pm.聽
A health ministry press release stated that health adviser Nurjahan and British high commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke visited the hospital, where two doctors from the United Kingdom had been聽聽 treating those injured in the movement since November 5 at NITOR.
They 鈥榮pent more than 2.5 hours to see the injured under treatment on the 3rd floor鈥�.聽
A group of people caused an unwanted and unfortunate situation by alleging some people had 鈥榯ouched them鈥� in the crowds and later both the adviser and the British envoy left the hospital premises after their visit to the 3rd floor without taking to the journalists awaiting there, said the release.聽聽
Dhaka Metropolitan Police鈥檚 additional commissioner Md Ziaul Haq said, 鈥極ur high-rank officials are contacting with the authority to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, we are also trying to convince them so that they leave the road.鈥櫬犅�
The Directorate General of Health Services on September 24 said its preliminary investigation had listed 708 people dead in the protests and uprising.
The health affairs sub-committee of the Students Movement against Discrimination on September 28 said that it had enlisted 1,581 people killed and over 31,000 injured in the movement.
