Medical services at Mitford Hospital came to a halt yesterday as intern doctors went on a work abstention from the afternoon.
Dr Iftekhar Amin, spokesperson of the intern doctors, said: “The interns will be back on duty from 10am tomorrow [today] if they feel the work environment is favourable.”
On the other hand, the nurses who went on work abstention from Saturday returned to duties in the evening yesterday after Lutfur Rahman, a Health Ministry official met with them.
Nurses Movement Committee at Mitford Hospital gave a three-day ultimatum to the hospital authorities on Saturday demanding the cancellation of intern doctor Sujon’s registration, bringing him to book and taking departmental action against him.
Yesterday, after meeting with the Health Ministry official the nurses announced to call a countrywide nurses’ strike if Sujon’s registration was not canceled by Thursday. Because of the ongoing unrest and impasse, a lot of patients had to return from the hospital yesterday without being treated.
According to hospital record, 84 patients arrived at the outdoor and emergency unit until 2pm yesterday, of whom. 64 were admitted. The number remains three to four times higher on any other day.
Moreover, no routine check up was done by the nurses since Saturday evening. They brought out a procession and chanted slogans against doctors who allegedly assaulted a senior staff nurse on Saturday. The intern doctors remained absent from work in fear of being attacked by the nurses.
Khadiza Begum, 35, came to the hospital from Keraniganj with swollen feet yesterday morning.
“At the emergency unit, the doctors prescribed me some drugs and told me to come one or two days later as the hospital situation was not normal,” she said.
The authorities of Mitford Hospital suspended Rafiqul Islam Sujon, an intern doctor, for allegedly physically assaulting a nurse on Saturday.
A three-member committee led by child department head Lutful Kabir was formed to investigate the incident.
The intern doctors sat in a meeting with Director of the hospital Brig Gen Zakir Hasanon yesterday afternoon. The director told them to join work and assured them that their security would be taken care of. The director asked them to be present before the session of the investigation committee to be held today.
Health Secretary MM Niazuddin told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are aware of the matter and we are trying to resolve it.”
