Patients suffered immensely in public hospitals as nurses, midwives, nursing students and teachers in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country staged a strike for five hours urging the interim government to appoint qualified people of the sector to the top positions of the Directorate General of Nursing and Midwifery by replacing the bureaucrats.
The protesters under the banner of 鈥楴ursing and Midwifery Reform Council鈥� enforced the strike between 9:00am and 2:00pm in public hospitals and educational institutions across the country.
The convener of the platform, Shariful Islam, said that they enforced the strike on Wednesday for the second consecutive day to press home their demand of appointing qualified nurses to the top positions of the DGNM instead of bureaucrats, who are currently holding those positions.
He said that the nurses and midwives worked at the hospitals鈥� casualties departments and other sections that provide emergency services during the striking hours. The sections include Operation Theater, Dialysis, Intensive Care Unit, Coronary Care Unit, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and High-Dependency Unit.
Sharif said that about 47,000 nurses were employed in public healthcare institutions.
He estimated that some 60,000 nurses, midwives, nursing students and teachers were supporting the demand.
Witnesses said that the nurses and midwives in the capital鈥檚 Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Sir Salimullah Medical College Mitford Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation observed the work abstention.
Ariful Islam, an attendant of a patient admitted to the NITTOR in the capital鈥檚 Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, said that they did not get any nurses to change the injectable saline administrated to his patient as the nurses were demonstrating in front of the hospital.
Arif said that his younger brother Amunul Islam was undergoing treatment at a ward of the hospital as he was injured in a road accident.
鈥楩or the strike, we are facing huge pressure to tackle our patients,鈥� said Mahfuzur Rahman, the administrative officer of the NITTOR.
Several patients鈥� attendants at DMCH alleged that the authorities remained indifferent to the patients鈥� sufferings.
They said that they failed to get service from any of the nurses during their demonstration hours.
The strike was also observed in the public hospitals in Chattogram, Rangpur, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Khulna to press home the demand, reports received from the divisional headquarters said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the nurses observed work abstention for four hours across the country to press the same demand.
The health advisor to the interim government, Nurjahan Begum, held a meeting with the leaders of the community at her secretariat office on Tuesday and promised to meet their demand within the shortest possible time. She requested the protesters to withdraw their demonstration and resume duties.
The nurses, however, continued their strike and announced to continue protests until witnessing any visible progress.聽聽
Nurses have been protesting since September 9 demanding the appointment of qualified and experienced nurses to the positions of director general, director, president and registrar of nursing and midwifery department.
They staged a three-hour strike across the country on September 30 and October 1. They suspended their strike on October 1 as the health adviser assured them that the government would meet their demands.