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The interns of several public medical college hospitals continue their work abstention for the second consecutive day on Monday, pressing for demands, including one that said only those holding a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree and Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree be allowed to use the title ‘doctor’.  

The strike enforced by the Intern Doctors’ Council from Sunday caused disruption in patient treatment in these hospitals. 

‘Intern doctors of several public medical colleges, including  in Chattogram, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Khulna and Mymensingh, are observing work abstention and students of all public medical colleges continue to boycott academic activities,’ said Zabir Hossain, president of the Doctors’ Movement for Justice that expressed solidarity with the strike and is actively involved with the movement.

Zabir said that their next move would depend on the  outcome of the hearing on the writ filed by a Medical Assistant Training Schools graduate seeking the right to use the ‘doctor’ title scheduled for today. 

The interns, however, have announced to hold a ‘long march for justice’ at 10:00am from the Central Shaheed Minar to the High Court in Dhaka city today, he added, saying that next step would be announced from the rally to be held at the end of the long march.

¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· staff correspondent in Sylhet and Rajshahi reported that patients at Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital and Rajshahi Medical College Hospital complained that they did not receive the regular services due to the interns’ strike.   

An outdoor patient at Osmani Medical College Hospital, Farhana Begum, said that she had to wait in the queue for about three hours to see the doctor as the interns continued their strike for the second day.   

Nasir Uddin, a relative of a patient admitted to RMCH, said that no doctor visited the ward throughout the day on Monday although earlier a senior doctor used to check his patient once in the morning every day.

Osmani Medical College Hospital deputy director Saumitra Das, RMCH director brigadier general FM Shamim Ahammad, and Chittagong Medical College Hospital director brigadier general Taslim Uddin Khan, however, claimed that they engaged postgraduate doctors, residential and senior physicians who were working extra hours to keep patient services intact.   

Striking intern physicians’ demands include an immediate halt on the registration process for MATS graduates through the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council, which started in 2010; shutting down all MATS institutions and substandard public and private medical colleges; updating of the over-the-counter drug list in line with global medical standards and allowing only MBBS and BDS degree holders to prescribe drugs outside the over-the-counter list; and forming a separate health commission for recruitment at the seventh-grade level.