Patients suffer as strike on
Patients' sufferings knew no end, with RMCH interns, who beat up over 10 journalists on Sunday night, staying away from work all day long yesterday.
Amid a shortage of doctors at the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), many patients remained unattended while others were compelled to leave the compound.
A patient even died at the hospital in the afternoon as, the victim's family says, there was none to provide him oxygen.
An LGED employee, Shahidul Islam, 45, of the city's Chandipur area was taken to the hospital around 3:30pm with severe respiratory problems, said his son Nahidul Islam.
“We repeatedly requested the on-duty doctor [at the emergency] to give him oxygen and the doctor sent my father to the cardiology ward,” he alleged.
“I ran around the ward for a doctor but could find none. Even the nurses were seeking the presence of a doctor for giving him oxygen. Half an hour later, my father passed away. He would have survived had he been provided with oxygen in time.”
Relatives of the patient scuffled with the hospital employees at the emergency gate while they were leaving with the body. Police brought the situation under control.
Contacted, RMCH Director Brig Gen AKM Nasir Uddin denied the allegation.
“The patient had already suffered a cardiac arrest when he was brought to the hospital. His attendants misunderstood things,” he told The Daily Star.
He claimed though the interns were on strike, the registered doctors, emergency and indoor medical officers and other doctors were performing their duties.
Our staff correspondent from Rajshahi reports: No major operations on patients at the hospital were performed yesterday.
Treatment of patients at the emergency unit and all wards remained suspended as the interns stopped working on Sunday night after a scuffle with police and journalists.
"I underwent surgery three days back, but did not receive follow up treatment,” said Rajab Ali at the hospital's neurosurgery unit, where some 80 patients had been admitted.
"There was only one doctor at the unit to look after the patients," he added.
He was not sure whether he would continue to stay there or leave for some other clinic, he said. “The treatment cost at other clinics is very high. So I am in trouble."
While enforcing the work abstention programme, the interns had declared their intention to resume their duties by 5:00pm yesterday.
But they did not live up to the promise and had not returned to their work stations till the filing of this report at 7:40pm yesterday.
"We somehow managed to continue regular services with the existing doctors and nurses," said RMCH Director Brig Gen AKM Nasir Uddin.
Interns claimed that five doctors, including a female intern, were injured in the attack by journalists on Sunday night.
They also submitted a memorandum to the RMCH authorities, citing their demands that include enforcing an embargo on journalists being on the RMCH compound, punishing the journalists and ensuring the security of interns.
The authorities have formed a seven-member committee to probe Sunday's incident.
Interns beat up at least 10 newsmen and damaged their laptops and cameras when the law enforcers were escorting the media people to the hospital to cover news on that night.
Of the injured journalists, Tarek Mahmud Russel, cameraman of Jamuna TV, was admitted to the ICU of Apollo Hospital in Dhaka while Raihanul Haque of Channel 24 was admitted to a private clinic.
Health Minister Mohammad Nasim yesterday told The Daily Star that stern action would be taken against the striking doctors at Mitford Hospital and RMCH.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her dissatisfaction over the increasing frequency of strikes called by doctors, sources said.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) yesterday strongly protested the attacks on newsmen in RMCH and Mitford hospitals.
The journalist leaders demanded immediate arrest of the alleged attackers and exemplary punishment to them.
They also urged the authorities concerned to provide compensation to the victim journalists, reports BSS.
Bangladesh Photojournalists Association said it would go for a greater movement unless the government brought the attackers to book and arranged compensations for the injured journalists.
Journalists in Rajshahi yesterday brought out a procession, protesting attacks on newsmen by the responsible interns.
They also demanded the withdrawal of police officials who played the role of silent spectators during the attack.
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