Amira El-Noshokaty reports on the plight of those injured during the revolution, and on the authorities' unfulfilled promises of help More than 8,000 people have been injured, and an estimated 1,000 killed in the course of Egypt's revolution. Yet their welfare remains a largely private matter, with individuals, private networks and non-governmental organisations in the forefront of providing relief to families. Calls for the state to fund the ongoing treatment of those injured have fallen on deaf ears, and families have received little official support. It was only when some of the victims started to demonstrate in front of the Egyptian cabinet's headquarters a few weeks ago that the government appeared to take notice. A day after the first protest Prime Minister Sharaf asked the Ministry of Finance to create a fund for the injured and their families that would help to compensate them for financial losses and pay for the rehabilitation of those maimed. The creation of the fund has raised many questions, not least why it had to depend on civil society organisations to provide a list of those injured and the kinds of injuries they suffered. Clearly the ministry of health could furnish no lists of its own. This is verified by Tarek Zaghloul, director of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, which has been pressing the cases of those injured during the 25 January Revolution. "Time and again there are no hospital records for those injured in the course of the revolution. The most that records contain is that the victim was hit by a live bullet. There is no indication of the kind of injuries sustained." The apparent inability of the authorities to accept any responsibility for the injury of peaceful protesters during the revolution was one of the reasons a second sit-in in Tahrir Square was called on 8 July. A few days later the prime minister once again addressed the nation, saying this time that he would hasten compensation procedures and personally take charge of the fund. The fund, which has received foreign and state donations, has promised a monthly pension of LE1,500 to the families of those killed, and one-off payments of just LE1,000 to the injured. The latter payment, say victims, many of whom require ongoing medical treatment for the injuries they sustained, is derisory. Without the charitable help they are currently receiving, channelled completely independently of the authorities, many would be destitute.
