Committee formed to investigate DMCH shutdown

The Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) authorities have formed a five-member committee to look into the incident that led to a three-hour shutdown of the hospital's emergency unit on Sunday. DMCH Director Brig Gen AKM Nasir Uddin confirmed the matter to the Dhaka Tribune on Monday. The committee, headed by Deputy Director Bidyut Kanti Paul, has been instructed to submit a report within three days, the DMCH director further said. On Sunday afternoon, following the death of a patient named Naushad Ahmed in the hospital's Coronary Care Unit (CCU), a dispute broke out between the patient's family members and the doctors and medical staff on duty at the CCU. The dispute soon turned violent and the irate family members of the patient assaulted the doctors and the nurses. A team of Bangladesh Ansar, stationed in the hospital, rushed to the spot to intervene, but the patient's relatives attacked them too. As the situation deteriorated, the doctors shut down the gates of the hospital's emergency services unit. The emergency unit remained closed for nearly three hours, causing distress to many patients who went to the emergency unit and were turned down. Speaking to reporters later in the day, DMCH Director Nasir Uddin said four doctors and three Ansar members had been injured in the scuffle. Sources said the patient's family had claimed to be relatives of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) President Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin. However, Mohiuddin denied the claim when he spoke to reporters after visiting the hospital on Sunday evening. A case was filed over the incident with Shahbagh police station on Sunday night, and four people were arrested, said Shahbagh OC Abul Hossain. Among the four, two detainees, who were injured in the brawl, are undergoing treatment at the DMCH, and the other to have been sent to court, the OC said.