Patients suffer as interns go on strike at RMCH

A large percentage of the interns belong to Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Islamic Chhatra Shibir (ICS), student fronts of ruling BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, sources claimed.

They called the strike after police allegedly failed to arrest the attackers on an intern. They claimed that the authorities failed to ensure security at the hospital.

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They had virtually stopped work Saturday noon after attendants of a patient beat up intern doctor Amanullah Chowdhury.

Over 100 patients left the hospital till yesterday noon as the strike hampered medicare activities.

The agitating interns demonstrated on the hospital compound from morning to noon yesterday and forced many doctors including Registrars and Indoor Medical Officers to leave the hospital.

At around 12pm yesterday, they, for the first time in the hospital's history, put the emergency ward under lock and key for two hours, forcing out all on duty doctors and staff.

They also threatened working doctors at most of the 30 wards and forced many of them out of the hospital.

JCD leader Dr Muktadir Hossain Mridha Subho, ICS leader Dr Nazmul Arefin and Dr Abdul Matin addressed a rally held in front of the RMCH Director's office after a procession on the campus yesterday to press their demands.

Their demands include police vigilance at emergency wards, fixed visiting hours, limiting patients' attendants to two and introduction of pass for attendants.

The interns, however, formed an 'emergency squad' to 'manage urgent situations', but threatened that it will not work if their main demand for arrest of the attackers on Amanullah is not met by 10 am today.

A group of doctors, however, expressed solidarity with the interns. Led by Dr Ratan of Ward No. 14, Dr Fazlu of ward no. 13, Dr Sharif of Ward No. 5 and Dr Nayan of ward No. 2, they submitted a written representation to Rajshahi unit of Bangladesh Medical Association expressing their solidarity.

Dr Amanullah Kabir Chowdhury was beaten on Saturday by a gang of ten when he was coming out of Ward no. 6, police said earlier.

Amanullah had a quarrel with attendants of patient Rawshan Ara. The attendants alleged that he responded late to her call, made as she felt problems due to on-going wall repair work in the ward.

Sources said that the attendants had requested Amanullah to take action to solve the problem. He asked them to shift the patient to another ward. A feud then ensued.

Senior doctors, officials and police rushed to the scene and brought the situations under control.

Within minutes, the interns gathered and agitated in front of the RMCH Director's office and submitted to him a memorandum demanding arrest of the attackers.

Amanullah filed a case in this regard with Rajpara police station, accusing ten people, naming three of them, police said.