Strike cannot be means of protest
Work abstention by doctors cannot be an instrument of protest as such actions deprive people of their fundamental rights of healthcare and even put people's life at risk, think physicians and rights activists.
However, they also observe that assaulting doctors, even in case of their negligence of duty, is not something permissible in a civilised society.
Earlier this week, the doctors of Birdem General Hospital went for a wildcat work abstention on Tuesday and Wednesday to protest an alleged assault on three of their colleagues by relatives of a patient, who died on April 13. The deceased's relatives claimed negligence of doctors caused the death.
The work abstention caused immense sufferings to patients seeking emergency or regular medical services.
“I went to the outdoor and then the emergency section but no doctor was there. Who will take the responsibility if something serious happens to me?” said 60-year-old diabetic Ruhul Amin who had come from Noakhali and could not see a doctor despite waiting for two days.
“Who will pay for our stay in Dhaka for more days? Will the doctors do?” said an angry Ruhul while leaving the hospital on April 16.
The Birdem's is not a unique case.
On March 27 this year, all the public and private hospitals in Rajshahi enforced a strike after a court denied bail to a doctor and sent him to jail in a murder case. The case was filed following the death of a businessman at a private clinic in Rajshahi city less than half an hour after he was taken to operating theatre for a surgery on his fractured right leg on January 30.
During the two-day strike, at least one patient died allegedly for not getting treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
At least 10 such strikes were enforced by doctors last year alone and around 50 incidents of assaults on physicians and other health professionals happened during the same time, said Dr Mohammad Jamaluddin Chowdhury, executive member of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA).
He too thinks that doctors should refrain from enforcing strikes.
“While strikes by doctors is not acceptable, attacks on doctors or whimsical criminal cases against them or arresting them before proving allegations are also totally unexpected,” said Jamaluddin, who is also a disciplinary committee member of Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BM&DC).
The BM&DC, the regulatory body of the physicians, can cancel the registration of a physician in case of negligence. But none filed any complaint with the council in the last three years, he told The Daily Star.
Dr Rashid-E-Mahbub, ombudsman of Birdem hospital, said doctors may show negligence and one may complain to the BM&DC, but in no way they can assault doctors.
There should also be a legal provision prohibiting work abstention by doctors, he suggested.
“As no legal provision is there and none follows the rules already in place, both the doctors and the complainants are going for extreme measures. This is unacceptable,” he said.
Sharifuzzaman, general secretary of rights body Nagorik Sanghati, said doctors should keep in mind that they have a much bigger responsibility than other professionals.
“However, doctors at present don't seem tolerant enough. In Birdem's case, they went for work abstention even before taking legal measures or waiting for the findings of the probe committee formed by the Birdem authorities,” he told The Daily Star.
Such moves suggest that the doctors want to realise their demands by victimising the patients, he said, adding that such "abuse of their power" is deplorable.
Echoing Sharifuzzaman, Dr Abdul Matin, formerly a medical practitioner and now a citizen rights activist, said doctors are expected to show more tolerance and patience as they deal with people in urgent needs.
“However, it is regrettable that these behavioural issues are not given much importance in Bangladesh. Better communications between the doctors and the patients can minimise such misunderstandings,” he told The Daily Star.
Dr Deen Mohammad Nurul Haque, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, said doctors may choose other forms of protests if they have grievances but should never go for work abstention.
“The government has taken the initiative for new laws to prevent attacks on doctors and also to ensure the doctors don't neglect their duties,” he said.
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