Health adviser faces outrage at NITOR

Health Adviser Nurjahan Begum faced outrage at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) on Wednesday while visiting victims of July-August mass upsurge.

Those still undergoing treatment from injuries sustained during the mass uprising barred the adviser from leaving the hospital complaining that she had not met all the injured.

The injured persons on wheel chairs with bandages on their hands, legs and eyes blocked the road in front of the hospital. They also complained about not receiving Tk 100,000 as per the announcement made by the authorities.

Witnesses, sources from police and hospital said Nurjahan Begum went to the NITOR around 12 noon today. After visiting some victims of the movement, she held a meeting with the hospital’s director and physicians. By then, the injured patients gathered around the adviser while she was going to brief journalists. Some also lied down before the adviser’s vehicle. They encircled the vehicle in protest. A few of them got on the vehicle of the adviser.

As the situation turned tense, Nurjahan Begum left the scene by a different vehicle. The British high commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cook, who was with the adviser, was also caught in the protest. Later she also left in different vehicle.

Tejgaon division police’s additional deputy commissioner Ziaul Haque told Prothom Alo that the adviser left the hospital safely.

A source from the NITOR said 84 injured during the movement are still undergoing treatment here. After the departure of the adviser, the injured persons took position on the road in front of NITOR. As the news broke, those who are receiving treatment at the adjacent National Institute of Ophthalmology & Hospital (NIOH) also joined in the protest. The vehicular movement came to a standstill.

Later the army requested the protesters to leave the road. Md Masum, a patient in a wheelchair present at the protest said the adviser came to visit the hospital after three months but did not visit all victims.

“She became an adviser as we shed our blood. The July Foundation was supposed to give Tk 100,000 to each of us but most of the victims are yet to receive the money,” Masum said.

Al Miraz, a patient who joined the protest from the NIOH said the retina of his right eye tore down. The physicians said his treatment is not possible in any local hospital.

Miraz urged the government to manage his treatment in any foreign hospital.

The patients were on the road till 5:15pm.