Doctors, medical students stage ‘certificate burning protest’ in Dhaka

They are also shunning classes and holding sit-in protests to demand only MBBS and BDS graduates be allowed to use the “doctor” title

As many as 17 organisations representing medical students, doctors and intern doctors have announced a protest where they will burn “replica” certificates near the Raju Sculpture on the Dhaka University campus to push for a five-point list of demands.

They started to collect mass signatures at 10am on Monday as part of the programme.

The burning of the “replica” certificates was scheduled to start around 11:30am, said Nurunnabi, general secretary of the Post Graduate Private Trainee Doctors Association.

Different doctors’ associations and medical students held public hearings virtually and made the decision to stage the programme, he told bdnews24.com.

“There’s no need to study MBBS and BDS if one can provide medical treatment by having a MATS certificate. There’s no need to secure a MBBS and BDS certificate in a country where one can become a doctor by filing a writ at the court. Hence, we’re staging this programme.”

Doctors and students put forward five key demands:

• Only MBBS and BDS graduates should be allowed to use the title “doctor”. All continuing cases related to law and public health must be settled by Mar 12. There should be no confusing titles such as “diploma doctor”, which is not a title that exists anywhere in the world aside from Bangladesh and is not recognised by the WHO.

• Only MBBS and BDS graduates should be allowed to run a private practice. The government must issue a notice regarding this.

• A committee should be introduced to reform the Medical Assistant Course curriculum in seven working days and all substandard MATS institutions should be shut down through a special drive.

• The government must recruit enough doctors immediately to fill vacant posts in the healthcare sector and extend the age limit for the Bangladesh Civil Services, or BCS, medical recruitment to 34 years.

• A law must be enacted to protect doctors. Also, a specific pay-scale should be introduced for doctors working in the private health sector.

Medical Assistant training School (MATS) students have been agitating for a long time, demanding immediate appointments to vacant positions in 10th-grade positions, employment opportunities and positions at government and private levels, curriculum revisions and one-year internships with allowances while maintaining the four-year academic course, the cancellation of the proposed Allied Health Professional Board and the formation of a board called the “Medical Education Board of Bangladesh”, and higher education opportunities in clinical subjects recognised by international standards and the BM&DC.

Doctors say that one of the demands of MATS students is to be allowed to write “doctor” titles before their names. A writ petition has been filed regarding the issue. The court will hear it on Mar 12.