Health ministry forms committee to confirm list of people martyred in popular uprising

The health ministry has directed the field administration to authenticate the list of martyrs and injured victims from the civil uprising that toppled the Sheikh Hasina government.

An eight-strong committee has been formed to carry out this verification on the ground.

A letter signed by Umme Habiba, deputy secretary of the Health Service Division on Friday, outlined that a preliminary list was prepared based on data gathered from health institutions.

The letter said, “A draft list has been created by the Management Information Department of the Directorate General of Health Services. It is crucial to verify this list on the ground.”

The committee will be chaired by the district commissioners and the district civil surgeon will serve as the member-secretary.

It will also include the superintendent of police, Upazila executive officer and two coordinators from the Anti-discrimination Student Movement.

The committee is tasked with verifying the list for accuracy, correcting any discrepancies and ensuring that no valid names are omitted.

They must submit the final, accurate list to the Health Service Division by Oct 14.

The letter specifies that only the names of martyrs and injured who supported the uprising should be included in the final list.

On Aug 15, the health ministry formed a committee to create a list of casualties.

The committee is led by former senior secretary of the Health Services Division Muhammad Humayun Kabir.

Under this committee’s supervision, the Health Directorate's MIS wing prepared the list, which has been submitted as a preliminary report.

According to ICT Advisor Nahid Islam, a total of 728 deaths and 20,263 injuries have been reported. In addition, a private source has provided a list of 800 martyrs, which is currently being verified.

District administrators have been instructed to submit a list from each district, with a final list expected by next Sunday, he added.

A state memorial event to honour the martyrs, scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed due to the list being incomplete.