Patients suffer as KMCH interns continue strike
The suffering of patients at Khulna Medical College Hospital continued today as interns continued their indefinite strike demanding the safety of the college's doctors and students following recent clashes between pharmacy staffers and students.
The strike that started 10:00pm on Monday will continue until the "culprits" are arrested and punished, the interns said.
Around 10:00am today, around 200-300 students brought out a procession on the campus and after an hour they started a sit-in in front of the main gate of the college.
The protest was continuing till filing this report in the afternoon.
Talking to The Daily Star, Khulna Medical College's Principal Dr Md Deen-ul-Islam said the students also boycotted today's morning classes.
A case was filed with Khulna Sonadanga Model Police Station yesterday against four named persons and 50 unidentified people on behalf of the college, he said.
A meeting is scheduled to be held this afternoon in the presence of the lawmakers of Khulna constituency-2, he added.
Saiful Islam Antu, president of KMCH's intern doctors' council, told The Daily Star that they will continue the protest as no one has been arrested so far in connection with the incident.
Meanwhile, since the incident, the pharmacies in front of the hospital are still closed causing sufferings to the patients.
Mujibul Haque from Kharnia village in Dumria upazila of Khulna came to the KMCH with his eight-year-old daughter for treatment. But he had to take her to the upazila health complex as the situation was tense on the campus.
Mujibul Haque said, "When I came in the morning, the situation was bad. The students were bringing out processions. The situation could have worsened at any time. So I decided to leave."
A large number of police personnel were seen deployed at Khulna Medical College Main gate and surrounding areas in the morning, while a large number of patients were waiting for treatment on the KMCH premises.
Momtajul Haque, officer-in-charge of Sonadanga Police Station, said, "We have talked to both sides. And a case has been filed on behalf of the medical college."
Professor Mehedi Newaz, vice-principal of Khulna Medical College, said, "Our students were beaten up badly [by pharmacy workers] for protesting against their ill practice of charging patients more for medicines. A meeting has been arranged with the local lawmaker today and we hope the matter will settled."
The incident started on Monday when a student of the medical college locked into an argument with a shopkeeper at a drugstore in front of the college over the malpractice of charging patients more than the set price for medicines.
At one point, several shopkeepers teamed up and beat up the student. When other students came to know about it, they went to the drugstore and the shopkeepers beat them up too.