Healthcare services at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) were disrupted yesterday as its honorary doctors went on a 48-hour strike protesting an assault on one of their fellows.
Hundreds of patients suffered immensely as more than 1,000 honorary and other doctors stopped working to protest against the attack on honorary physician Mominul Islam, who was beaten up in the capital’s Chankharpul area on Saturday night. Mominul was admitted to DMCH Intensive Care Unit in a critical condition.
DMCH authorities filed a case with Shahbagh police station in this connection without mentioning any specific name.
DMCH honorary doctors went on a 48-hour strike yesterday morning demanding arrest of the culprits who had physically assaulted their colleague. Otherwise, they said, they would not join work.
Hundreds of patients were compelled to return home as the outdoor section was closed.
Seeking anonymity, a top DMCH official told the Dhaka Tribune that as bizarre as it might sound, many senior doctors, from medical officers to professors, did not carry out their duties perfectly.
“The healthcare service for the patients thus mostly depends on honorary and intern doctors. This is why the overall healthcare service gets into trouble if those doctors refuse to work,” he said.
According to DMCH sources, there are around 1,000 to 1,500 honorary doctors working at the hospital. In addition, there are nearly 200 intern doctors who received one-year training and of them, 133 passed out on May 7.
Nearly 2,200-2,400 patients, including old and new, come to the outdoor section for treatment every day. Because of the strike, however, only 820 tickets were sold in the first two hours yesterday and most of the patients could not meet doctors. Even the number of doctors at emergency section and indoor section was very poor.
General Secretary of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) Professor M Iqbal Arslan told the Dhaka Tribune they were trying to bring back the doctors at work.
“We have called an emergency meeting of the BMA central executive committee to find a proper solution to the problem,” he said, adding that BMA leaders had requested law enforcement agencies to arrest miscreants who beat up Mominul. “We have also requested Dhaka University authorities to consider the issue seriously.”
Wishing anonymity, several senior DMCH nurses told the Dhaka Tribune the honorary and few intern doctors made trouble when senior doctors went to provide service for patients.
They asked senior doctors not to see patients until the miscreants were brought to book.
To restore normalcy, Health and Population Affairs Secretary of Awami League Dr Badiuzzaman Bhuiyan Dablu, Director-General of the Directorate General of Health Services Professor Dr Din Mohammed Nurul Hoque and other BMA leaders went to the hospital in the noon and held a meeting with the doctors, assuring them that the attackers would be arrested soon.
Dr Badiuzzaman Bhuiyan told the Dhaka Tribune it was very unfortunate that a doctor was beaten up on Saturday night. “Doctors are now feeling insecure. Someone is trying to make the healthcare sector unstable. I request journalists to find out the real reason behind the attack,” he said.
Although it was said only the honorary doctors observed work abstention, few intern doctors and other mid-level and high-level officials also refused to discharge regular duties.
DMCH Director Md Mustafizur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that the strike subjected outdoor patients to sufferings but there was no disruption in emergency and indoor service. “Although limited, doctors and nurses are trying to treat patients sincerely,” he added.