Salimullah Medical College located in Old Town of Dhaka was closed for
an indefinite period on Wednesday in the wake of Tuesday’s clash
involving staff, interns and students.
The students were asked to vacate their dormitories by Wednesday night.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the academic council, medical college principal Dilip Kumar Dhar told New Age.
He said that hundreds of patients were suffering a lot as medical
services in Mitford Hospital were being hampered seriously for the
second consecutive day on Wednesday following the clash.
Services at emergency ward, outdoor, surgery, operating theatre and
pathology were disrupted as class III and IV employees were not
available to provide patients with health services.
A group of Bangladesh Chhatra League activists, led by medical college
unit secretary Shawon Das, staged a showdown with rods and machetes on
the campus in presence of police.
At least 20 people were injured in a series of clashes between the
interns, students and staff on Tuesday following a dispute over some
medical tests.
The clash erupted when a pathology technician issued an HIV report instead of hepatitis C virus to an intern.
The interns stopped working, causing immense sufferings to a thousand
patients undergoing treatment in the hospital, sources said.
During the clashes, around 650 staff fled the hospital premises in
panic. Emergency and outdoor services were being disrupted since then.
Some of the staff said that they would not join their work until their security was ensured and the college dormitories vacated.
No patients had been admitted to the hospital since early Tuesday when the clash erupted.
Mahbubul Alam, acting director of Mitford Hospital, told New Age that
they held meeting with the medical college principal, local lawmakers
and law enforcement agencies.
‘We hope regular health services in the hospital will resume tomorrow (Thursday) morning,’ he said.
At least 2,000 patients receive treatment at outdoor and over 300 at
emergency, but services are now being hampered seriously, he added.
Golam Mostafa, steward in the hospital said, ‘Since no staff is available, we are unable to provide food to patients.’
Md Jahangir, attendant of a patient, said that his daughter-in-law had
been undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit for three days, but
doctors could not conduct an operation as there was no staff.
The medical students said that they would not allow the authorities
concerned to reopen the hospital if the staff did not seek apology.
Mrs Israt, an assistant professor of surgery department, told New Age
that they were providing primary medical service to the patients. ‘But
due to lack of staff, we cannot continue with proper treatment and major
operation.’
Kotwali police officer-in-charge Shah Alam said that they were trying to tackle the situation peacefully. (source)