The agony of people in Rajshahi and areas nearby for one and a half days has seemingly come to a brief stop as seven organisations of doctors in Rajshahi called off their strike until Sunday noon.
Published : 28 Mar 2014, 10:26 PM
Their move came on Friday night after the ‘administration assured’ them of releasing a physician from jail.
Doctors in Rajshahi had begun their strike on Thursday afternoon after Swadhinota Chikitsak Parishad leader Shamil Uddin Ahmed Shimul was sent to jail pending trial in a case of alleged medical negligence that caused death of a patient.
President of both Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) and Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad’s Rajshahi unit Dr SR Tarafder announced the break around 9:30pm Friday after a meeting of the organisations.
He said, “The administration has promised initiatives to release Shamil Uddin Ahmed Shimul. The strike has been called off until 12pm on Sunday.”
Tarafder told reporters that the administration officials assured them at a meeting in the evening that Shimul would be release by then.
He warned of tougher agitation if things panned out differently.
On Jan 29, Anwarul Haque Tipu, a businessman, had died while undergoing treatment at local Dolphin Clinic, owned by Dr Shimul, a senior physician of the orthopaedic department at Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital (RMCH).
Shimul is also the BMA Joint General Secretary and Organising Secretary of the RMCH unit of Chikitsak Parishad, a pro-Awami League platform of physicians.
Tipu’s wife Sharmin Aktar had filed a case against three physicians of the clinic, including Shimul, at the Boalia Police Station alleging wrong treatment.
A Rajshahi court refused him bail after he appeared before it on Thursday and sent him to jail.
The public and private hospitals and clinics went go on an indefinite strike since the afternoon same day to put pressure on authorities to release Dr Shimul, holding thousands of patients hostage.
Patients went without treatment since then as there were no doctors in the government hospitals including RMCH.
Amid the strike, one Ashraful Islam, 35, critically injured in a road accident in Chapainawabganj, succumbed to his injuries at RMCH on Friday afternoon, a day after he was admitted.
His brother Ariful Islam alleged that Ashraful was denied proper treatment due to the doctors' strike.
Eight-year-old ‘Babu’ of Ullaparha Upazila, is undergoing cancer treatment at the same hospital’s ward number 24.
His father Harunur Rashid told bdnews24.com that the child had undergone a medical test at a city diagnostic centre but the report was not available until Friday afternoon because of the strike.
"The child’s treatment is also being delayed in absence of the doctors.”
Abu Bakar Siddique had come to Rajshahi from Chapainawabganj’s Shibganj Friday morning for his wife's ultrasound test but had to go back as all the diagnostic centres were shut.
Rakib Chowdhury came all the way from Natore with his aging father who is suffering from an acute urinary problem. But there were no doctors at RMCH and no clinics were also open to admit him either.
He hired an ambulance and rushed to Dhaka along with his father around 11:30am.
However, General Secretary of the Rajshahi unit of Private Clinics and Diagnostic and Nurses Association, Dr Mokhlesur Rahman denied allegations that the doctors were holding patients as hostages to have their demands met.
“We don’t want to hold the patients hostage. But we’ve no other option but to go on strike,” he said.
He said it was not unusual for a patient to die undergoing treatment, but it was unfair to pack off an 'eminent doctor to jail on a murder charge.