A total of 167 severely injured protesters were admitted to the National Institute of Neurosciences & Hospital (NINH) during the July-August 2024 uprising, and most of them came with shattered sculls.
Dr Mahfuzur Rahman, an associate professor at the NINH, said this at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) in Dhaka on Wednesday as a prosecution witness (PW).
He gave his deposition at the tribunal as the 13th witness in a case filed against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and two other accused on charge of committing crimes against humanity during the July-August 2024 mass uprising.
Apart from Sheikh Hasina, the other two accused in the case are former Home Minister Md Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
"Altogether 575 patients, all with bullet and pellet injuries, received treatment from the hospital's outdoor service. Although, many of them required admission at hospital, we could not admit all of them due to shortage of beds and more serious patients," said Dr Rahman, an on-duty physician at the hospital, at the tribunal.
"Most of the 167 severely injured patients, who were admitted in our hospital after getting injured in the police firing in 2024 uprising, came with shattered sculls. Many of them had almost no scull left. Four were brought dead, 29 died during the treatment. Seven, who were put in ICU, were sent to Thailand for better treatment," added the physician.
He told the tribunal that he and his team performed 33 operations to remove bullets and pellets from the bodies of protesters, many of whom had lost parts of their skulls.
The doctor further said on July 19 last year, when number of patients was rising gradually, he was pressured by Detective Branch (DB) officers not to treat or admit victims shot during protests.
"Do not be overenthusiastic. You will be in danger. Do not release those who have already been admitted. There are instructions from above. Legal action will be taken against them," he quoted the officers as saying.
He added that doctors were forced to alter hospital records to conceal the true nature of injuries.
"At that time, we tactically changed the injury descriptions in the admission register, recording causes such as road accidents instead of gunshot wounds, so that we could still treat the severely injured students," he said.
The physician demanded death penalty for Sheikh Hasina as well as former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, former State Minister for Information Arafat, and police officers accused of carrying out their orders.
Later two more witnesses, Hasanul Banna, an associate professor at Ibn Sina Medical College Hospital in Dhaka, and Shahnaj Parveen, a senior staff nurse at NINH, also gave their depositions at the ICT-1.
Later Md Amir Hossain, state appointed lawyer for two absconding accused, Hasina and Kamal, cross examined the prosecution witnesses.
After completion of deposition and cross examination, the three-member bench of the ICT-1 headed by its Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder adjourned the proceedings until August 24.
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