625 killed, 18,380 injured in student movement: Health services secretary

A total of 625 people have lost their lives and 18,380 have been injured during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, Senior Secretary MA Akmal Hossain Azad of the Health Services Division said today (11 September).

However, he said that these are not the final numbers. The secretary was speaking at a briefing in the conference room of the ministry at the Secretariat.

“We have learned that 18,380 people have been injured, and 625 have lost their lives. We have tried to transfer the injured from one hospital to another for better treatment. Our utmost effort is to train service providers through data entry in various government hospitals to prepare for any future situation. We are trying to increase our capacity,” said Akmal.

“Some of the injured have died without treatment, and we will not be able to escape responsibility before the nation for that. Therefore, we are working in a coordinated manner. We are trying to arrange treatment for the injured students abroad. Even though it is not under our jurisdiction, we have procured free tickets from Biman Bangladesh Airlines. Even if no one does, we will make the arrangements needed for taking some of the critically injured abroad,” he added.

He further stated that a taskforce was formed to determine how many were injured or killed. This committee was formed under the leadership of a former senior health secretary.