Volume I Issue 2


SCORNED AND BURNED: ACID VICTIMS IN BANGLADESH


Kaushalya Ariyathilaka I


t is the visiting hour of the Dhaka Medical College Hospi- tal. The narrow hallways are


filled with patients, medical stu- dents, and those who have come to visit the patients. As I make my path through the crowd, trying to follow the ward attendant who is taking me to the Plastic Surgery and Burn Unit, I can see the ce- ment bags and masonry tools ly- ing in some corners. “Some con- structions are still going on,” says the ward attendant, noticing my curious face. “Is it always this crowded?” I ask him, eying the pa- tients lying on the cold tiled floor. “Yes,” he says curtly, as though it were a silly question. We keep pushing through the crowd. We enter a small room at


the end of the corridor in the fifth floor. The room has four beds but eight patients. I glance at the ward attendant again. “This is not very strange for a Bangla- deshi public hospital,” he assures me, recognizing my surprise at the overcrowded room. “The pa- tient you want to talk to is in the second bed,” the ward attendant


Asia: Bangladesh


says, indicating to the middle of the room. People crowding near the second bed move towards the wall, giving us some space to come near the patient. The woman lying on the bed


seems to be in her forties or fif- ties. Her name is Fahmida Priya. She certainly does not seem hap- py with getting all the attention in the room. In modesty or shame – I am unable to tell which – she has covered her entire body with a sheet from her bed and a shawl. She does not rise to greet me. Moving is painful for her, because Priya, who is actually 48 years old, has been severely burned by sul- phuric acid, which was thrown on her body by some ruffians a few weeks ago. Acid attacks are a heinous


but common form of intimida- tion in Asia, with a particularly large portion of attacks occur- ring in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Cambodia. According to the Acid Survivors Foundation, about 67% of acid attacks target wom- en. There have been about 2,306 reported acid attacks in Bangla-


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