At least 12 people were hurt, three of them critically, in a clash between interns and fourth-class employees of the National Medical College and Hospital in old Dhaka yesterday.
Eyewitnesses and hospital sources said the clash ensued between the hospital staff and interns around 11am following an altercation over harassing a female intern.
According to sources, last Thursday around 5am, a Class IV staff Babul entered the interns’ restroom and misbehaved with an intern. At that time the female intern shouted and some of her fellows beat up Babul.
Later, Babul with other staff members slapped interns Yasmin, Shorna, Murad and Nabid around 9am on Saturday.
As the news spread among other interns, they made an attack on the fourth class staff and thus the clash ensued.
During a two and a half hour-long chase and counter chase, the agitated interns and staff vandalised several office rooms of the hospital and set fire to different instruments halting the patients’ treatment in the hospital for the day. Several patients went back to nearby hospitals and suffered for the ongoing situation.
Sahid Hossain, a businessperson in the area, said he came to the hospital with his younger daughter Nawshin.
He said the doctors forced them to leave the hospital and he was taking her to Sumona Medical.
Like Sahid, many other patients faced trouble and went to nearby private hospitals to take treatment.
On information, Kazi Firoz Rashid, lawmaker of the area, rushed to the spot with lawmen and took the situation under control. Among the injured, five staff members Jahirul Islam, 35, Mohammad Sumon, 32, Ershad, 29, Mostofa, 32, and Babul Khan, 35, were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as the National Medical would not provide them with treatment.
Khalilur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Sutrapur police station, told the Dhaka Tribune a clash ensued between the staff members and interns at the National Medical but the situation was then under control. Additional police forces had been deployed in the area to avert any unwanted situation, he said.
Contacted, Cap. Dr MA Salam, director of NMCH, told the Dhaka Tribune, “We have held an emergency meeting with local lawmaker Kazi Firoz Rashid after the incident and a four-member probe body has been formed to submit a report after an investigation.”
“We would take decision after getting report from the probe body and the hospital service will resume from Sunday,” he said.
The members of the probe body are Kazi Firoz Rashid, MP, Chairman of NMCH Dr Abul Kalam, Principal Prof Arif Rahman and Director Salam.
The committee would submit a report within two working days.