Postgrad trainee doctors reject Tk 5,000 stipend raise

Postgraduate trainee doctors yesterday staged a protest rally rejecting the Tk 5,000 increase in their monthly stipend.

The proposed raise would take their stipend to Tk 30,000, but they called for raising the stipend to Tk 50,000, warning that they will continue their movement until their demands are met.

The Finance Division on Monday issued a circular increasing the salary to Tk 30,000 from Tk 25,000 for the postgraduate trainee doctors.

Yesterday afternoon, the postgraduate trainee doctors organised a protest rally at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in Dhaka's Shahbagh. Hundreds of doctors participated in the protest, voicing their dissatisfaction with the Tk 5,000 raise.

At around 2:45pm, the protesting doctors brought out the rally at BSMMU, chanting different slogans saying that they rejected the government's decision.

Regarding the decision, Suja Uddin, a postgraduate trainee doctor at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told The Daily Star, ''A mere Tk 5,000 increase in stipend is a mockery of us. We do not accept this decision. Our monthly stipend must be raised to Tk 50,000.''

While briefing the reporters, Jabir Hossain, president of Doctors Movement for Justice -- the platform under whose banner these protests are being organised -- announced an indefinite period of work abstention nationwide, demanding their monthly stipend be raised to Tk 50,000 or be the same as a 9th-grade salary for government employees.

"An indefinite work abstention programme will continue until our demands are met. If the demands are not met by Thursday, we will initiate a Dhaka blockade and grand rally at Shahbagh on Sunday morning," he said.

Earlier on Monday, around 3,000 postgraduate private trainee doctors observed seven hours of work abstention nationwide, demanding that their monthly stipend be raised to Tk 50,000 from Tk 25,000.