The interim government on Thursday decided to provide a lifetime free medical services to the injured during the July-August movement.
The decision was taken during a meeting between the interim government's six advisers, a special assistant to the chief adviser and over a hundred individuals injured during the movement at the Secretariat.
As per the decision, each individual injured during the July-August movement will get a lifetime of free medical services using a unique ID card provided to them by the government.
The government has verified information on 737 deceased individuals on the preliminary list of people who died during the student-led mass upsurge in July and August. Besides, more than 23,000 were injured.
Amid outrage among injured patients from the July mass uprising at NITOR, a Bangladesh Nationalist Party delegation visited the hospital on Thursday and demanded that those who were critically wounded be sent abroad for proper treatment.
The party also called upon the government to quickly provide each victim of the movement with the promised financial assistance from the July Smriti Foundation.
Emerging from the meeting, Sayedur Rahman, newly appointed special assistant to the health and family welfare adviser, disclosed the information to the media.
“A written outline in this regard will be issued within the next five days. The outline will be implemented as per the timeline stated in it,” he said.
He said, “The injured fighters will get unique ID cards. Using the card, they will get lifetime free services from all government organisations [hospitals]. They will also get services free of charge in private hospitals with which the government has an agreement. All government hospitals will have dedicated beds to treat the injured. All the hospitals in Dhaka will be brought under one network.”
Sayedur informed that all processes related to the outline for the treatment of the injured will be completed by December. He emphasised that negligence in this matter will not be tolerated.
At the meeting, a delegation of protesters who suffered injuries during the July-August mass uprising placed their seven-point demand.
They demanded that the government provide treatment to injured protesters like ministers or advisers receive if they get injured in any incident.
Another demand was that medical expenses must be reimbursed for those who had to bear their treatment costs after being injured in mass uprising.
They also demanded lifetime monthly allowance and setting up of rehabilitation centre for the families of martyrs and injured fighters, issuance of special cards for them.
They demanded setting up of a museum in memory of martyrs and injured and holding of mass signature campaign from July 1 to August 5 every year.
They called for the formation of an impartial investigation committee to examine medical files of those who died or got injured and taking legal action against any doctors or medical institutions if found to have neglect of duty.
They also demanded punishment for perpetrators and ban on the Awami League and their affiliates.
They demanded that the opinions of martyrs' family members and injured fighters should be taken into account for state reforms in future.
Chaired by Health Adviser Nurjahan Begum, the meeting was also attended by Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Farida Akhter, Posts, Telecommunications and IT Adviser Nahid Islam, Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, Social Welfare Adviser Sharmeen S Murshid, Adviser Mahfuj Alam, and Chief Adviser's Special Assistant on Health Affairs Md Sayedur Rahman.
Early on Thursday, Law Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul, Farida Akhter, Asif Mahmud, Mahfuj Alam, and Md Sayedur Rahman visited the injured protesting outside the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Nitor), commonly known as Pongu Hospital.
The injured protesters agreed to withdraw the programme after the advisers assured them of meeting their demands.
Mahfuj assured them that they would meet at the Secretariat to discuss how the government can support the injured.
