A walk through the burn and plastic surgery unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital these days would be inexorably met with constant groans of pain, laboured respiration or measured movements of the arson victims – who continue to populate the country’s only specialised burn care facility.
As of yesterday, there are 24 arson victims undergoing treatment at the facility with three in dire conditions. Two of them were admitted to the intensive care unit for advanced treatment.
Sources said the patients were all victims of the violent confrontations that marked the country’s recent weeks and hospitalised with varying degrees of burns. Some needed to go under the knife more than once because of postoperative complications.
Nine-year-old Shumi, who suffered burns on November 8, has not yet recovered from her wounds because of postoperative infections and can hardly move her right hand. Pickets had torched the Dhaka-bound bus carrying her and her grandmother at Gazipur on that day, leaving them with 12% and 15% burns respectively.
Rubina Begum, her mother, said: “It is really painful to see her crying all the time. And the fact that you have little to do makes it all the more painful. I want my daughter to recover as soon as possible. After what we have been through, I don’t think we will ever come to Dhaka again.”
Police officer Mohammad Nurnabi, 55, was one of the passengers of the bus torched near Shahbagh on November 28 and hospitalised with burns covering 35% of his body. He was moved to the intensive care unit and is reportedly in a critical state of health.
Abdullah Al-Amin, only son of Nurnabi and a higher secondary student of Udayan School and College, said their six-member family was wholly dependent on his father’s income. “We are praying for his swift recovery.” His wife, Diljahan Begum, still reeling from the shock of the incident that rendered the family helpless, remained silent when contacted for comments.
The condition of 35-year-old Repon, also undergoing treatment at the ICU, and driver Al-Amin was also reported to be critical.
Doctors say the main problem of these patients is they are susceptible to different kinds of viral infection because of their current week immune system.
Twenty-year-old Muni, a worker of Hamim Group, has been attacked by several viral infections since she was hospitalised with 25% burns on November 14. Her husband Rana said she would have to go through further operations before she recovered fully.
In this regard, Dr Partha Shankar Pal, a resident surgeon at the unit, told the Dhaka Tribune that a patient was most susceptible to viral attacks during their postoperative phase of recovery.
“They need to be kept in secure locations to reduce the susceptibility of such attacks.”