11 doctors dismissed

Ten professors and an associate professor of different departments of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), the lone medical university in the country, were dismissed yesterday for their alleged political affiliation.
University Registrar Abdul Gafur who served the termination letter to those teachers told The Daily Star the eleven were relieved of their jobs because their appointments flouted the Public Servants (retirements) Act, 1974 that prohibited the recruitment of retired government officials as permanent employees.
He also said the act states that the retired persons could join any autonomous institute on a contract basis but they cannot be made permanent. The dismissal orders come into effect from today.
Those who were terminated are Sayeba Akhter and Nasim Akhter Chowdhury of Gynaecology Department, Jahangir Kabir of Nephrology, SA Khan of Transplant Urology, Matiur Rahman Mollah of Dental, Abul Kashem Chowdhury of Microbiology, Noor Jahan of Physiology, Nazrul Islam of Cardiology, Nargis Akhter of Pharmacology, Mizanur Rahman of Radiology and associate professor Sharif Hossain of Plastic surgery.
The teachers told The Daily Star it was a politically motivated decision as their appointments were not unlawful. “We were appointed as per the university act 1998.”
The BSMMU syndicate took the decision just before the Eid holidays, Gafur said.
University sources said they were terminated as they were appointed on political ground during the BNP-Jamaat coalition government.
One of the sacked teachers Prof Sayeba Akhter said, it was around 1:55pm when she received the termination letter from the administration signed by the vice-chancellor that asked her to accept it by today.
She claimed that she faced the selection examination before her appointment. “So my appointment was justified,” she said.
The leaders of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) and Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) condemned the move of dismissal of those professors.
Dr AKM Azizul Haque who is the president of BMA and DAB said it's really bad practice that the government intends to terminate the experts from medical university due to political reasons.
He demanded that the government should revise its decision immediately.