The interns of Dhaka Medical College Hospital have called off their strike on assurance of steps to meet their demand for justice for the attack on a fellow physician.
They called off the protests on Sunday after a meeting with leaders of the Swadhinata Chikitsok Parishad, DMCH and Dhaka University authorities, and law enforcers.
Mohiuddin Jalali, president of the interns’ council, said they were joining duty considering the suffering of patients and that Monday, August 15 is the National Mourning Day.
Nearly 200 intern doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital have been observing demanding justice for an assault on one of their peers.
They called the strike on Thursday as police failed to arrest the DU students who assaulted an intern on Monday.
DMCH Intern Doctors’ Council announced to abstain from work for an indefinite period as their 48-hour ultimatum expired on the day.
Earlier, the Council had given a 48-hour ultimatum to identify the attackers and take legal steps against them, which didn’t bear any fruit.
On Monday night, some students of Dhaka University thrashed Dr Sazzad Hossen on Central Shahid Minar premises "without any valid reason".
"Around 9:00pm on August 8, I sat on the premises of central Shahid Minar. Suddenly, some students of the University of Dhaka (wearing T-shirts with the logo of Dhaka University) appeared and started asking me about my identity and institution," Dr Sazzad wrote on his Facebook page.
"When I told them that I am a student of Dhaka Medical College, they wanted to check my ID card. As I failed to show my ID card at that moment, they started beating me and hurled abusive words at me.”
Later, the victim filed a complaint against some unidentified people at the Shahbagh Police Station in this connection. An FIR was subsequently filed on the basis of the complaint.
Interns at DMC submitted a letter of protest over the incident to the hospital’s director and deputy director, Dr Maruf Ul Ahsan Shamim, president of the DMC Intern Doctors Council said.
The letter called for an investigation of the incident and for justice to be done. It warned that a work stoppage would begin if the perpetrators were not brought to justice within 48 hours.
Doctors are struggling to cope with the work stoppage. However, the emergency department is open and the other departments are continuing to offer their services, according to the hospital’s director.
DMCH Director Brig Gen Md Nazmul Haque said the administration is working to resolve the situation.
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