BIRDEM doctors continue strike

Doctors at BIRDEM Hospital are denying treatment to the sick for the second day in protest against an assault on their colleagues by relatives of a patient who died there.

Patients who have travelled from far-off places on Wednesday were seen stranded at the hospital’s outdoor section and various other units.

The 600-bed multidisciplinary hospital employs almost 450 doctors. Its outdoor section, which runs from 8am to 2pm, treats up to 4,000 patients every day.

Meanwhile, in a press conference in the morning, the doctors said they will continue their strike in demand for justice.

But its emergency room, Coronary Care Unit (CCU) and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are in operation, said Dr Ahmed Salam Mir, the spokesperson for the doctors.

“We don’t want to stop working, we want to treat patients,” said Mir. “But we can’t do that unless we feel secure.”

The protest began after a female doctor and two staff members were beaten up by the relatives of a patient, Sirajul Islam, who died in the hospital on Sunday night.

The relatives also reportedly vandalised parts of the 14th floor of the hospital.

The doctors said didn’t stop working from the next day because it was Pahela Baishakh – the first day of the Bangla New Year.

Photo: nayan kumar/ bdnews24.com

Photo: nayan kumar/ bdnews24.com

But on Tuesday, BIRDEM’s doctors demonstrated at Shahbagh blocking traffic and did that again on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, 55-year old Tofazzal Hossain was seated desolately at the hospital’s veranda. He came with his diabetic wife from Kurigram.

“We saw a doctor here two months ago. The doctor asked us to come back. But no one is here now and no one is telling us when to come back,” he said.

Aziz Howlader, a 35-year old diabetic patient, was among those at the hospital’s outdoor section.

“I’ve been coming here in vain for two days. It has been closed since yesterday. No one is saying when it will open. All they say is that I should keep an eye on the TV.”

Md Yusuf Gazi from Jamalpur, an old patient of the hospital, said he was also asked to watch the news on television before coming again.