'Have to strike back'

Dr Khurshid Jamil Chowdhury, president of Chittagong chapter of Doctors' Association of Bangladesh (DAB), yesterday at a meeting said doctors have to strike back, “otherwise, no results will be achieved”.

The former leader of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) made the remarks while talking about a doctor, nurse and a staffer of Chittagong's Max Hospital being detained by law enforcers on Saturday.

The three were held after Rafia Khan, a three-year-old, died allegedly due to “wrong treatment” at the hospital on Friday. They were later released.

The Chittagong chapter of BMA arranged the meeting at its office in GEC intersection, attended by members of BMA, DAB and Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad.

“Discussions can be part of a movement but you have to show your strength,” he told doctors. He also asked Dr Liakat Ali, managing director of Max Hospital, present at the meeting, how police were able to take away the three from the hospital.

“Hold meetings at your respective institutions. If necessary, hold meetings with all the members of private and government hospitals to build unity,” he added.

“The hospital staffers may get beaten first. Next it will be your turn,” he continued. “Just like them, we [doctors] have to save ourselves from being attacked. No results will be achieved until you strike back.”

“They [journalists] are now united. They also have division within themselves over BFUJ election. But we have one advantage that they are not united like us,” he added.

When asked, Dr Mojibul Haque, president of BMA (Chittagong chapter), present at the meeting, told The Daily Star that he did not hear of such remarks made by Dr Khurshid Jamil. “To my knowledge, he [Dr Khurshid] did not deliver any such speech.”

However, The Daily Star has received a video of Dr Khurshid making the remarks, which also went viral on Facebook.

Contacted, Hasan Ferdous, general secretary of Chittagong Union of Journalists, said there has not been a single incident of journalists attacking doctors.

“The speech aims to destroy amity between the two professional organisations and create an untoward situation. We urge law enforcers to look into the matter,” he said.

“What we want is very simple -- we want justice for Raifa, who died of medical negligence,” he added.