Burn victims in despair

As the victims of recent political violence are gradually improving at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the uncertainty ahead is gripping them tight, plunging them in utter despair.
Their already burnt and blackened faces only add more to the gloom.
"My garment worker wife has been denied her pay for the days she missed work to take care of me at the hospital," said bus driver Mahbub, who received 30 percent burns in Shahbagh arson.
He requested this correspondent if something could be done in this regard so that they can save the family for the time being.
Nasima Begum, wife of another arson victim Rubel Mia, said their six-member family had been in a serious financial crisis since her husband got injured. CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver Rubel, who had sustained 23 percent body burns in Comilla on November 26, was the only breadwinner for the family.
Although not every one had sustained the same degree of burnt, those who got their hands and legs scorched in arson would need at least two to three months to get back to work, said burn expert Samanta Lal Sen.
Since the start of the opposition's fresh agitation on November 26, some 124 burn victims have been treated at DMCH, of whom 13 died and 72 had to be admitted.
Yesterday, three patients were shifted from the ICU to general wards, while condition of four other victims in the ICU -- Abdul Aziz, Nurun Nabi, Saiful Islam and SI Ripon -- improved a bit.
"As long as they are in ICU, it cannot be said that they are out of danger. Moreover, all of them are suffering with damaged respiratory organs," said Rebeka Sultana, an anaesthesia consultant at DMCH burn unit.
Meanwhile, speech-impaired truck helper Mujibur Rahman, who received 20 percent burn injuries to the face, hands and thighs in an arson attack in Comilla early Monday, has been admitted to the paying ward.
Mujibur's mother Aleya Begum said he was in intense pain and was only able to show his tongue if he was thirsty.