Postgraduate doctors join interns on strike, emergency services unaffected

They launch an indefinite work stoppage in solidarity with medical interns and students, who are pressing for several demands

Postgraduate trainee doctors have launch an indefinite work stoppage at various hospitals nationwide in solidarity with medical students and interns, who are protesting to press home several demands.

The strike began on Saturday.

The Doctors' Movement for Justice, an organisation of postgraduate trainee doctors, had already announced the protest action in a statement on Friday.

However, the protesting doctors have excluded emergency services, CCU, and ICU from the strike to ensure critical patient care remains unaffected.

According to Md Nurun Nabi, general gecretary of Doctors' Movement for Justice, postgraduate trainee doctors will gather at the Central Shaheed Minar at 11am on Saturday as part of the protest.

There are around 10,000 postgraduate trainee doctors across the country.

In a statement on Friday, Doctors' Movement for Justice said that while medical students and intern doctors had already been on strike to press for the implementation of their list of five demands, there had been no tangible response from the health ministry, the Directorate General of Health Services or other health authorities.

"Therefore, we call upon all government and private doctors [including all BMDC-registered physicians] to join the indefinite work stoppage from Saturday until a just resolution to the demands is reached," the statement read.

Speaking to bdnews24.com on Saturday, Nurun Nabi said, "We are not participating in outpatient and indoor services at hospitals. However, emergency, ICU, and CCU services remain operational. At 11am, we will gather at the Central Shaheed Minar."

Earlier, in the first week of February, students from Medical Assistants Training Schools (MATS) staged protests in Dhaka demanding recruitment for vacant 10th-grade positions and the creation of new posts in both the public and private sectors. Their protests are currently on hold following government assurances.

Meanwhile, medical college students nationwide have launched various programmes to press their demands.

Since Feb 24, students from various medical colleges have been boycotting classes in support of their five-point demands, including a provision that only MBBS and BDS degree holders can use the title "doctor". No students attended classes on that day.

A day earlier, on Feb 23, medical students protested in different medical colleges, joined by intern doctors who expressed solidarity with their demands.

KEY DEMANDS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS:

- Only MBBS/BDS degree holders should be allowed to use the title "doctor". The BMDC registration should be exclusive to MBBS/BDS graduates, and registrations for MATS graduates should be stopped. The petition against BMDC regulations must be withdrawn within 72 hours.

- Update the Over-the-Counter (OTC) drug list to align with medical practice standards. No one except MBBS/BDS doctors should be allowed to prescribe drugs beyond the OTC list.

- Address the doctor shortage by immediately recruiting 10,000 doctors for vacant positions and raising the age limit for BCS medical recruitment to 34 years.

- Shut down all MATS institutions and substandard public and private medical colleges. The designation of "Sub-Assistant Community Medical Officer" for MATS graduates should be revoked, and they should instead be designated as medical assistants.

- Implement statutory law to protect doctors from violence and legal harassment.