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Published : 08 Jun 2026, 11:33 AM
Intern doctors at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) are continuing a work stoppage into a second day as part of a central programme to demand the withdrawal of the decision on Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS) training and the enactment of a health worker protection law.
The protest was launched at 8am on Sunday and has now continued into Monday.
Dr Irfanur Rahman, office secretary of the Intern Doctors Association of CMCH, told bdnews24.com: “Our strike continues today in continuation of the indefinite programme we launched yesterday.
“In addition, a human chain demonstration and protest programme will be held on the campus at 11:30am.”
Irfanur said a delegation of the protesting interns has gone to Dhaka to discuss the six-point demands with senior officials, including the secretary of the Ministry of Health.
"We will announce the next decision on the programme after the discussion," he said.
Trainee doctors, who have been on strike since Monday morning, have also joined the work stoppage, Irfanur said.
Asked whether medical services for patients are being disrupted amid the stoppage, he said: "Services are not being disrupted in the emergency, outdoor and wards. However, naturally, service is not as fast as it should be as the intern doctors are not on duty."
The CMCH runs with the support of 290 intern doctors alongside roughly 1,000 trainee doctors, in addition to its regular medical staff.
The dispute centres on a set of decisions the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently took on FCPS training.
Those decisions included halting new postings in certain departments at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, making two years of mandatory Upazila-level service a condition of training, and introducing a merit-based limited stipend.
The six demands put forward by the intern doctors are: withdrawal of the FCPS training directives issued by the Medical Education and Family Welfare Division on May 19 and issuance of fresh guidelines; enactment of a healthcare worker protection law and its enforcement through a speedy trial tribunal; fixing the monthly intern stipend at Tk 30,000; and introducing a separate pay scale for government doctors.
The other demands include setting the Bangladesh Civil Service health cadre entry age limit at 34; converting the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) Act 2025 from an ordinance into a full act of parliament; taking legal action against those posing as licensed doctors; and capping all admission test fees under the BMDC and Bangladesh Medical University at Tk 1,000.
The association has carried out demonstrations, rallies and memorandum submissions since Thursday to press the demands.
In response, the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) recently issued a statement following discussions with the ministry over the evolving situation after the May 19 policy directive.
As a result, the mandatory Upazila training condition has been scrapped.
The statement also said private FCPS trainees who have cleared the first part of the examination will now be eligible for stipends if they train at BCPS-recognised government medical college hospitals and institutes.
With the remaining demands still unmet, the intern doctors went ahead with the strike.
