KATHMANDU: Eleven people injured in the Gen Z protest are still receiving treatment in hospitals. Dashain has passed, and Tihar is approaching. For the injured, the memory of the festivals and their families adds to the pain while healing.

Geeta Sah from Saptari has been receiving treatment at KMC after being burned during the Gen Z protest on September 8. Kamal Ghimire from Kavre, shot during the same protest, is in the High Care Unit of KMC.

According to the Ministry of Health, 11 people injured in the protest are being treated in various hospitals across the country. Even during the festive season, they have not been able to return home.

On September 8, Geeta Sah was at her watch shop in Koteshwor. She never imagined that the protest, which started from Maitighar, would reach Koteshwor, intensify, and affect her directly. But it happened.

The 48-year-old Sah’s shop is next to Koteshwor Police Station. When a large crowd reached Koteshwor, she went outside to see. The protest escalated, and fire from petrol-laden torches touched her body. She was rescued and taken to Kantipur Hospital.

Due to a large crowd there, she was transferred to Kathmandu Medical College (KMC), where she has been receiving treatment since.

Geeta is in bed number 244 of KMC’s Plastic Surgery Post-Operative Ward. About 18% of her body is burned, mainly her lower back and right arm.

While lying in the hospital bed, her pain increases. Sometimes, she screams while recalling her injuries.

The hardest part for her was Dashain. While staying in the hospital, she watched the festival’s celebrations pass by. Before Tihar, she hoped she could be discharged, but doctors kept her under observation.

“Outside, Tihar lights are sparkling, colorful, and full of joy, but I am forced to spend Dashain and Tihar in a hospital bed,” she says.

During this time, memories of past Dashain and Tihar festivals also haunt her. Every year she decorated her house and shop. Tihar brought a different happiness, but this year her home was not decorated.

“With no excitement in my heart, what’s the point of decorating my house?” she said, expressing disappointment. “It’s been one and a half months; I’m exhausted staying in the hospital bed.”

Since she was hospitalized, her son Rahul has been managing the shop. “He was preparing to go abroad. Now that I am hospitalized, it’s unclear what will happen to him,” she says.

Kamal Ghimire, 27, from Kavre, is also in KMC’s High Care Unit. His parents run a cow farm in Radheradhe, Bhaktapur. Kamal, helping his parents, went to deliver milk in Baneshwar on September 8.

By the time he was returning home, Kathmandu’s situation had become tense. In Baneshwar, water sprays and tear gas were used, and gunfire began. Kamal paused for a moment to observe, and he was shot in the chest.

According to his uncle Prananath Ghimire, the bullet severely affected his lungs. Kamal could not speak for some time, but now he has started talking.

“Although the government provides free medical treatment, we still have to pay for medicine and food, which is financially difficult for the family,” said Prananath.

“There is a large wound on the right side of his chest. Doctors say it will take a long time to heal,” he added.

Despite the physical pain, Kamal missed important festivals. “During Dashain, I barely managed to apply Tika,” said Prananath. “Tihar will pass without celebration for him. It’s not easy to perform Bhai Tika in a hospital.”

Kamal has one sister. Because repeated surgeries are necessary and the wound is slow to heal, he is forced to stay in the hospital even during the festivals. “I would have been so happy if doctors had said he is healed and could go home,” said his uncle.

Staying in a hospital bed during the festive season, victims are tormented by memories of their families.

Other injured protestors are in different hospitals in Kathmandu.