By Syed Rubaiyat Habib & Mohiuddin M Mahi

DHAKA, Aug 31, 2024 (BSS) – Mohammad Sifat, a 17-year-old workshop worker who was shot by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) men on July 19 during the anti-discrimination student movement at Narayanganj, had to carry bullets inside his body for 30 days.

 “For treatment, I had to suffer in each stage starting from getting an ambulance to buying medicines or other logistics. The bullet stayed inside my body till August 18 as the doctors were facing difficulty to locate it”, Sifat told BSS in a recent interview.

After the bullet was taken out from his body at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), Sifat was shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in the capital on August 24 and is taking treatment there with three damaged alimentary canals and a broken bone.  
 
While describing the incident Sifat said, “Along with the students, I went to the movement with my friends on July 19 after Jummah prayers as it was very tough for me to stay idle at home during such a serious moment when my student brothers and sisters are being killed on the streets randomly”.

“Within 30 minutes of getting on the streets at Narayanganj’s Jhalkuthi intersection near Signboard area, I saw that BGB and police were shooting at protesting students and people indiscriminately, but the students were moving forward amid gunfire”, he added.  
 
Describing the day as a nightmare, he said, “People were being shot here and there and screaming for help. I saw someone screaming around me holding his left leg after being hit by a bullet”.

Later, I heard that the person succumbed to his injuries as he got injured severely and the news was very shocking for me, he added.
 
Sifat was shot by BGB men at around 4:30 pm at Jhalkuthi intersection near signboard area of Narayanganj.
 
“After being hit by bullet in my left chest, I thought it would be a piece of brick but later I realized that it is a bullet as blood was being drained along with some rice coming out from my stomach breaking the alimentary canals”, said Sifat.     
 
“At that time, I felt like I am losing all of my strength failing to even breathe and thus, my friends were doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to keep me alive”, he added.
 
“I thought I would die for sure as I was stuck in the middle of demonstrators and police. Later, my friends somehow managed an auto rickshaw and took me to a local hospital”.
 
But the hospital authority just opened and closed the bandage and then referred me to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where I faced the most challenging time due to the unavailability and high charge of ambulances.
 
“My friends and I managed only Taka six thousand but the ambulance was claiming for Taka seven thousand.

 I had to wait for one hour in that condition as we failed to manage the extra one thousand, until an unknown middle-aged woman suddenly came forward and gave cash assistance that made it possible to finally get to the DMCH”, said Sifat bursting into tears.
 
“In the DMCH, from the very beginning we had to suffer due to negligence and mismanagement of hospital authority”, he said, adding, “However, the situation got better after the success of students’ movement”.
 
Sifat said “From July 18, the day I was shot, we had to bear all of the expenses on our own including the medical logistics although I heard that people who were admitted after August 7 are being treated well by the hospital authority due to student’s pressure”.
 
“My major concern was my family’s financial crisis as around Taka 1 lakh, most of which came from loan, has been spent for my treatment including food and other expenditures. The only income source of my family is me and my father, a street vendor who sells ceramic-product”, he added.