Five leaders of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), ruling party BNP's student front, accused of attacking and assaulting intern doctors at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital (SZMCH) have been permanently expelled from the organisation, prompting the intern doctors to temporarily withdraw their work abstention after nearly 40 hours.
The decision came following assurances of stronger security at the hospital and disciplinary action against those involved in the attack. The intern doctors announced the withdrawal around 4pm Thursday.
Earlier, around 1pm, the intern doctors announced the withdrawal following a three-and-a-half-hour meeting among representatives of the district administration, police, hospital authorities, BNP and local JCD leaders at the hospital’s conference room.
Intern doctor Ritul Mondal Snigdha announced the decision at a briefing after the meeting.
As part of their ongoing protest, the intern doctors closed the hospital’s outpatient ticket counters and staged a sit-in Thursday morning. Hundreds of patients who had come from distant areas suffered greatly as a result. However, the emergency department remained operational round the clock.
To resolve the situation, an emergency meeting was held at the SZMCH auditorium Thursday afternoon. Bogura Deputy Commissioner Toufikur Rahman, Police Superintendent Mirza Sayem Mahmud, hospital Deputy Director Dr Manzur-e-Morshed, senior BNP leaders, and representatives of the Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) and doctors attended the meeting.
The demands of the intern doctors were discussed at the meeting.
Later, Hospital Deputy Director Dr Manzur-e-Morshed said disciplinary action had been ensured against the outsiders involved in the attack, meeting one of the key demands of the intern doctors.
He also said the process of deploying armed Ansar members at the hospital and establishing a round-the-clock police outpost had begun.
Earlier, around 10:30pm Tuesday, a clash broke out between intern doctors and relatives of deceased patient Abdul Malek, 55, at the hospital’s medicine ward.
The intern doctors alleged that the patient’s relatives attacked them with Burmese knives and iron rods, leaving at least 21 intern doctors injured. Hospital equipment was also vandalised during the incident.
A case was filed with Bogura Sadar Police Station on Wednesday accusing seven named individuals and several unnamed people over the alleged vandalism and theft at the hospital.
Police have so far arrested six people and sent them to jail through the court.