Countrywide hospital shutdown announced

Doctors of all public and private hospitals across Bangladesh have declared a shutdown, demanding a safe working environment following an attack on doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

The announcement came from DMCH on Sunday (September 1) noon.

Earlier on Saturday night, a 24-hour ultimatum was issued, demanding the arrest and exemplary punishment of the perpetrators and ensuring the security of doctors following the attack on doctors at the DMCH.

The DMCH doctors said the authority has failed to fulfill their demands.

Two separate incidents on Saturday sparked the strike.

The first incident involved a commotion at DMCH following allegations of negligence in treating a critically injured private university student, which led to his death.

The deceased student was identified as Ahsanul Islam, 25, a student of the Engineering Department at Bangladesh University of Business and Technology (BUBT). The student’s death due to alleged medical negligence forced the relatives of the patient to carry out the assault on a doctor. Since then, the situation at DMCH remained tense.

According to hospital sources, BUBT student Ahsanul Islam was critically injured in a road accident while returning to Mirpur from the airport on his motorcycle around 10pm on Friday. 

People nearby rescued him and initially took him to Kurmitola General Hospital, and later, he was transferred to DMCH, where he died on Saturday morning.

Following the news of the BUBT student’s death, his classmates and relatives arrived at DMCH. They raised allegations of medical negligence against the doctors, which led to an assault on the doctors.

Later that night, some injured individuals from a clash between two groups in the Khilgaon area came to DMCH for treatment. 

Subsequently, members of the opposing group entered the emergency department of the hospital, wielding machetes and other sharp weapons.

At that time, four individuals were caught red-handed by the hospital authorities and they were later handed over to the army. 

When the army tried to take control of the situation, the doctors and students refused to leave their positions. The doctors demanded the arrest of the culprits based on CCTV footage.

On Sunday morning, the intern doctors of the emergency department initially announced a work abstention.

Due to the work abstention, the emergency medical services at the DMCH have been suspended.