Police stop doctors, fine one in coronavirus lockdown

Police have stopped several doctors and health workers on their way to work in Dhaka on the first day of a strict nationwide COVID-19 lockdown.

One of the doctors was fined Tk 3,000 on Wednesday.

The Foundation for Doctors' Safety, Rights and Responsibilities or FDSR said it received many reports of physicians being stopped by the police although the government notification on banning public movement exempted health workers.

“We don't go outdoors for entertainment. We are jobholders. We will lose our jobs if we don't go to hospitals,” said Rahat Anwar Chowdhury, joint secretary general of FDSR.

He thinks some overenthusiastic police officers stopped the health workers even after seeing their ID cards.

Nazmul Haque, a doctor working at Square Hospital’s COVID unit, said he was fined Tk 3,000 for going out with his car. He works at the hospital three days a week.

He has been travelling to the hospital from his village home in Munshiganj after his father was diagnosed with the coronavirus.

Vehicular movement on a Sher-e Bangla Nagar road in Dhaka is halted by placing a bamboo fence on the first day of a nationwide seven-day lockdown enforced with stricter rules. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove

The doctor said the police stopped him at a check-post near the High Court and he showed his ID card, but the policemen fined him.

Some other doctors took to Facebook to share similar experiences.

The police stopped a car carrying nurses from Tongi to Kurmitola General Hospital for two hours as the health workers did not have movement pass issued by the law enforcers, wrote doctor Sourav Chowdhury.

Another car carrying journalists passed by without any hassle, he added.

Another physician who works at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh or icddr,b said the police stopped him at Station Road when he was travelling from Tongi at 7am.

“They said that it is forbidden to move outdoors although I showed my office ID card. The policemen even suggested that I should stay at hospital if I want to work. They said it was the last warning for me,” the doctor said. 

Bangladesh Police launched a website to give citizens ‘Movement Pass’ for going outdoors in case of emergencies during the lockdown.

“No one should face questions from the police if he or she shows their identity card and proves that they are engaged in emergency work,” said Sohel Rana, a spokesperson for the Police Headquarters. 

He said the police officers were instructed to support those involved in emergency services.

“But we have been told that some people are not cooperating with the police by refusing to give information,” he added.