Patients suffer in 3 districts as interns strike

Medical services were hampered as interns at some hospitals in Bogra, Sylhet and Barisal abstained from work yesterday in protest of penalising four of their colleagues for "assaulting" a patient's relative.

The interns at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogra continued their work abstention for the third straight day. This led to a crisis of doctors and it was the patients who ultimately suffered, reports our Bogra correspondent.

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The protesters also formed a human chain on the campus demanding cancellation of the penalty.

Contacted, Nirmolendu Chowdhury, deputy director of the hospital, said they were trying to resolve the matter through discussions.

Declaring solidarity with the Bogra protesters, interns at four hospitals in Sylhet began an indefinite strike yesterday, reports our correspondent there.

The hospitals are Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Medical College and Hospital, North East Medical College Hospital and Sylhet Women's Medical College Hospital.

In Barisal, interns of Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital went on a 72-hour strike yesterday morning.

A group of interns allegedly beat up twice Rouf Sarkar, 35, son of a patient admitted at the Bogra hospital, over a trifling matter on February 19. A video of the incident went viral on social media.

Later, Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council launched an investigation and suspended the internships of four interns for six months based on the probe findings.