Patients left in anarchy:Daily Star

The wife bandages her husband with fresh gauze as nurses and interns go on strike at Mitford Hospital, leaving medical services in disarray yesterday. Part of the photo has been blurred. Photo: Palash Khan Patients at Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital continued to suffer for the second straight day as intern doctors and nurses enforced back-to-back strikes. The nurses had begun t
he work abstention from around 2:00pm on Saturday protesting an alleged assault on a senior staff nurse by an intern doctor earlier in the day. The accused Rokibul Islam Sujon was temporarily suspended that very night pending investigation. And yesterday, the interns enforced a strike from the morning protesting what they claim is "unjustified" suspension of Sujon. They alleged that the authorities took the decision without allowing Sujon to defend himself. However, the worse victims of this tug-of-war, as it always happens, were the patients in need of medical assistance -- both emergency and regular. "I've been at the hospital with my brother for the last five days. He suffered a brain stroke and he needs injections and medication twice a day. But he was not given anything yesterday,” said Momtaj Begum while she was sitting beside his brother Mosharraf, 27, yesterday. Despite repeated appeals, she got no assistance from anyone at the hospital. “Rather, I was advised to take my brother elsewhere if his condition deteriorated,” Momtaj said. The emergency and outdoor sections saw fewer patients and a number of surgeries had to be deferred due to the stalemate, said hospital sources. Advertisement Jarina Khatun, convener of Nurse Sangram Parishad, the platform of agitating nurses, said they had withdrawn their strike following the assurance of authorities that punitive actions would be taken against the intern. “We demand that Rokibul be suspended from internship for five years. We will wear black badges till Thursday as a symbol of protest,” she said. The interns, on the other hand, said they too would withdraw their strike from this morning provided that the nurses did not stage any protest programme of any sort. Meanwhile, Brig Gen Md Zakir Hassan, director of the hospital, said the interns had decided to resume work following a meeting with the administration yesterday night. A probe committee had been formed and asked to submit its report on Thursday. Further decision on the matter would be taken based on the committee's findings, Hassan said. Bakul Rani Das, who allegedly was beaten up by the intern doctor, was admitted to the hospital. Our correspondents saw a cut mark beside her left eye. She said she got the wound when Sujon hit her on the face and her spectacles broke. The intern also hit her on the abdomen and back, she alleged. "The intern is of my son's age. But he beat me up severely in front of other doctors and staff. I want justice," Bokul Rani Das told The Daily Star yesterday while lying on her bed in the hospital.Sujon, however, denied the allegation. "Her abusive language led to an altercation and scuffle. But I did not beat her," he claimed.