Suffering at BIRDEM ends

The striking doctors at BIRDEM General Hospital have gone back to work after the ‘assaulting’ police officer was removed from duty, ending two days of sufferings of thousands of patients.

Their decision on Wednesday night ended the deadlock at the specialised hospital for diabetic patients.

Relatives of a patient went on the rampage and assaulted three doctors at BIRDEM, alleging negligent treatment caused the patient’s death on Sunday night.

The doctors of the 600-bed hospital in Dhaka went on strike on Tuesday morning protesting against the assault, stopping all services save the ICU, the CCU and the emergency room.

That made the patients who had travelled from far-off places suffer.

The doctors held Dhaka district Additional Superintendent of Police ABM Masud Hossain responsible for it and demanded his punishment. Hossain is the brother of the patient who died.

Health Minister Mohammad Nasim on Tuesday asked State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to take action against those involved after the leaders of the medical fraternity met him on Tuesday.

Nasim on Wednesday also threatened to stop all health services for the police if no steps were taken.

Amid the doctors’ strike and Nasim’s threat, the police top-brass decided to remove the additional SP.

Police spokesperson AKM Qamrul Ahsan confirmed his withdrawal to bdnews24.com on Wednesday afternoon.

Later in the evening, BIRDEM DG Prof Dr Nazmun Nahar told reporters that doctors had joined work lifting the strike after Masud Hossain was removed.

“Hospital services are back in full swing,” she said.

However, spokesperson for the demonstrating doctors, Senior Medical Officer Dr Anwarul Islam told bdnews24.com that it was only temporary. “The movement will continue.”

He said their next programmes would be announced from a human chain to be held at Shahbagh intersection at 11am on Thursday.

Asked why they were persisting with the movement now, Islam said, “BIRDEM is a well-known institution where doctors were assaulted. We want it to be resolved.”

The agitating doctors on Tuesday demonstrated at Shahbagh blocking traffic and did so again on Wednesday for a while by staging a human-chain protest demanding action against Additional SP Masud.

At a press briefing afterwards, the doctors had declared to press on with their strike for justice.
 

One of them, Dr Ahmed Salam Mir said, “We don’t want to stop work, we want to treat patients. But we can’t do that unless we feel secure.”

Health minister Nasim at a programme later on Wednesday asked the home ministry to immediately withdraw the police officer and take punitive measures against him.

"Otherwise, all government health services for police and all police hospitals across the country will be closed,” he had warned.

Patients’ suffering

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.

But since the doctors went on strike, admission of new patients was closed, multiplying the suffering of patients who came from afar to get treatment.

A huge number of patients on Wednesday were stranded at the hospital’s outdoor section and various other units. They also expressed helplessness and deep frustration.

Several of them on Tuesday alleged that some patients were given the discharge letter even though they were not fully treated.

Relatives of some patients admitted at the surgery, orthopaedics and medicine wards said they were not getting any service.

Swapna Begum, who was with patient Shahnaj Parvin, 40, said there were patients in every bed at the medicine ward. But they left due to the doctors’ strike, she added.

BIRDEM hospital can accommodate 573 patients. The ICU and CCU can have room for 58 of them while cabins can accommodate 144. The rest are housed in general beds.

The hospital’s director Shahidul Haque Mollick told bdnews24.com that number of patients has gone down due to the strike. But the emergency room, Coronary Care Unit (CCU) and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) were in operation.

Despite the claim by authorities, many new patients were seen returning without receiving treatment.

Tofazzal Hossain, 55, seated desolately at the hospital’s terrace on Wednesday morning. 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, was among those at the hospital’s outdoor section.

“I’ve been coming here for two days. It has been closed since yesterday.”