CMCH interns go on indefinite strike

Services at Chittagong Medical College Hospital were disrupted as the interns yesterday locked, almost all entrances to the hospital to protest Shibir attack on a fellow intern and former president of Chhatra League CMC unit . Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) interns went on a strike from around 11:00am yesterday protesting the hacking of their fellow just hours earlier.
They declared to continue the strike until the attackers, who they claimed were Islami Chhatra Shibir's CMCH unit activists, were arrested.
Sohel Parvez Suman, also a former Bangladesh Chhatra League's (BCL) Chittagong Medical College (CMC) unit president, received stitches in his head and his condition is stable, said CMCH sources.
With doctors, other than interns, working inside, patients were confused over how to enter as Internee Doctors Association (IDA) locked up four gates and barricaded the remaining one, before the emergency unit.

Interns yesterday locked, almost all entrances to the hospital to protest Shibir attack on a fellow intern and former president of Chhatra League CMC unit . Photo: Anurup Kanti DasChittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) interns went on a strike from around 11:00am yesterday protesting the hacking of their fellow just hours earlier. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

Though police removed the barricade after half an hour, there was no notice informing that the emergency unit gate was open. IDA Member Secretary Shanto Debnath said only a 10-member squad of interns were responding to emergency calls.
Earlier, IDA and BCL activists blocked Prabartak Intersection for half an hour from around 10:45am.
CMCH Director Brig Gen Khondakar Shahidul Ghani said all medical officers were asked to continue duty.
Meanwhile, no classes were held at CMC. Students accused BCL activists of barring them from attending classes while the latter claimed that students had called an indefinite class abstention.
CMC Principal Prof Selim Muhammad Jahangir could not be reached for comment.
Sohel was attacked in Chittagong city's Mehedibag area around 7:00am on returning from a trip to Sylhet, said Salman Mahmud Siddique Rafsan, general secretary CMC Central Students Union.
Around 15 men on five motorcycles pulled Sohel out from a CNG-run auto-rickshaw and hacked him, he said.
Denying the allegation, Shibir's CMC unit President Azizul Hakim Bappa said, “I have information that the attackers were train ticket scalpers with whom Sohel had a scuffle  in Chittagong Railway Station.” Police said IDA members filed a case against some 15 people, two of whom were named.