Many of the seriously injured are writhing in hospital beds in pain from blown off limbs, damaged kidneys and livers, lost eyesight and impaired hearing.

Most of them will survive as handicaps, the experts feared.

A series of grenade explosions at the rally near the main opposition party's headquarters on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka killed 19 people, including AL Women's Affairs Secretary Ivy Rahman, and injured over 200 others.

The patients will not fully recover from the injuries if shrapnel remains lodged in their sensitive and vital organs, said N K Alam, consultant of the Casualty Department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Doctors fear multiple surgeries needed to remove the shrapnel from the patients' bodies may deteriorate their condition and even threaten their lives.

"Splinters have already caused the damage. If we now try to take them out it will be more dangerous," said Dr Saiful Islam, emergency medical officer at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and Hospital (BSMMUH).

Brigadier General Nazmul Huda, director of the DMCH, also echoed the same view.

"It is not be possible to take out all the splinters from their bodies as any such attempt will require several surgeries and deteriorate the patients' condition," he said.

Shamim Hossain, 22, a private firm worker, was passing through Bangabandhu Avenue when the grenades exploded and took a cascade of splinters in his thighs.

He moved to the capital from Rajshahi recently and supports a five-member family back home.

"The hospital authorities have so far paid my medical bills and I don't know what will happen when I leave the hospital," a helpless Shamim said, but there was nobody to share his grief.

The condition of Selim Chowdhury, 40, is the worst among 11 people being treated for injuries in three wards of the DMCH.

A hail of grenade splinters have mutilated the intestine of Selim who also took over 200 splinters in the lower part of his body including both legs and pelvis.

Disconsolate with grief, his sister Farzana says: "It has been more than a week since the attack, but there is no sign of improvement in his condition."

"After suffering injuries I rushed to the DMCH alone, but failed to find a place amid a large number of patients. Then I went home at Khilkhet by taxi."

"After making a round of five hospitals, my family finally admitted me here 12 hours after the bloodbath," said Selim, a political activist.

Doctors have advised him to fly to a foreign hospital for better treatment, a suggestion he cannot afford.

"I surely know that the government will not send me to a foreign hospital. As I'm not a leader, the party will also not care for me," he said.

Photojournalist M A Shishir from his emergency unit bed at BSMMUH said he partially lost his eyesight suffering two splinter injuries to his left eye. Grenade splinters were also lodged in other parts of his body.

Mahbuba Parveen, who took more than 500 splinters, was transferred to Bangladesh Medical College from the BSMMUH on Sunday after her condition deteriorated.

"The shrapnel lodged in my body causing me terrible pain," said Mahbuba, mother of two children.

Doctors said Mahbuba needs better treatment in a foreign hospital as she received more than 500 splinters below the waist, including the legs.

"We are looking forward to the Awami League for its assistance," said schoolteacher M A Masud, her husband.

Doctors said they did not carry out any surgery as both of her legs and pelvis were badly damaged.

Mohila Awami League activist Rowshan Ara, 50, took 70 splinters in her hands, legs and back in the rally bombing.

"I was three feet away from Ivy Apa and lost sense after the blasts. Doctors have said they won't take the splinters out," she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.