United News of Bangladesh

Intern doctors at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital (SOMCH) on Sunday began an indefinite strike and sit-in programme, demanding the withdrawal of a recent government decision on FCPS training, increased allowances for intern and trainee doctors, and implementation of their six-point charter of demands. The protest started around 11am in front of the hospital's administrative building, according to the Intern Doctors Association. Despite the strike, emergency services, including the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Coronary Care Unit (CCU), remain outside the purview of the work stoppage. The protesting doctors said their primary demand is the cancellation of a directive issued on May 19 by the Health Education and Family Welfare Division regarding FCPS training. They urged the authorities to withdraw the decision within 48 hours and issue fresh instructions. Among their other demands are raising the age limit for entry into the BCS health cadre to 34 years, enacting a Health Worker Safety Act to ensure the security of doctors, increasing the monthly allowance for intern doctors to Tk 30,000 and for private trainee doctors to Tk 50,000. They also called for the introduction of a specific salary structure for private doctors, strict action against fake practitioners through turning the BMDC Ordinance-2023 into law, and reducing the admission test fee for BCPS and Bangladesh Medical University to a maximum of Tk 1,000. The intern doctors said that despite playing a vital role in the country's healthcare system, medical professionals have long faced discrimination, neglect and insecurity. "We have been compelled to launch this movement to realise our legitimate demands," one of the protesters said. Leaders of the Intern Doctors Association described the demands as reasonable and justified, saying doctors continue to work under difficult conditions while carrying significant responsibilities. They said all emergency services remain operational during the programme and warned of tougher action if their demands are not addressed quickly. "If effective steps are not taken to implement our demands, the indefinite strike and sit-in programme will continue," a leader of the association said.

Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury and Chief Executive Engineer Nur Ajijur Rahman tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday.

A sexagenarian woman and her grandson were killed after being run over by a passenger bus at Parair chak area of Sylhet’s Dakshin Surma Upazila on Thursday evening.

Five people were killed in a collision between a bus and an auto-rickshaw in Chowghari Bazar area of Sylhet-Zakiganj highway in Gopalganj on Saturday.

Sylhet division recorded 107 more coronavirus cases in 24 hours on Thursday. 

A total of 76 people were diagnosed with Covid-19 in Sylhet division on Saturday.

Forty-one people were diagnosed with coronavirus in Sylhet, Feni and Barishal on Saturday.

Twelve more people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in tests conducted at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College and Hospital.

A total of 78 interns of Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital (SOMCH) have been sent on quarantine after one of their colleagues tested positive for coronavirus.

A physician of Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital died of coronavirus at a Dhaka hospital on Wednesday.