“Ma, I will never come to Dhaka again. So much pain, mother, it’s hard to bear. Please help me.”
This was the appeal of a nine-year-old girl, writhing in pain and crying for her mother’s help at the burn and plastic surgery unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
The girl, Shumi Akter, from Durgapur in Netrokona, was coming to Dhaka to visit her aunt during the latest opposition-sponsored shutdown. She was injured during a sudden arson attack launched by pickets.
The bus carrying her and her grandmother, Rahima Khatun, was set on fire after being intercepted near the Gazipur intersection around 9pm on Sunday night. They were seated in the middle of the bus and little time to get to safety.
Both Shumi and Rahima were admitted to DMCH with burns to 15% and 13% of their bodies, respectively. Five days after the incident, Shumi has yet to recover from the searing pain in her body.
Visiting the hospital on Thursday, this correspondent met Rubina Begum, Shumi’s mother, who came to attend to them at the hospital. Sitting beside her daughter’s bed with a vacant look on her face, she remained silent when asked about her next course of action.
All she could manage to say was that she wanted to go home with her daughter.
Staying in the same ward with Shumi were two others burnt during the latest hartal: Asadul Gazi, a driver of a CNG three-wheeler was admitted with burns to 60% of his body; and Hasu Mia, a technician with Bishwas Group, with 10% burns.
During the two 60-hour hartals enforced in quick succession by the opposition alliance, at least 15 people from various areas of the capital sought treatment at DMCH.
Two of them, Mostafizur Rahman Mukul, 34, and Monir Hossain, 12, died on Thursday.