The physicians attending postgraduate residency programmes at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) have launched a hunger strike on Sunday to press home their demands for a higher monthly allowance, timely payments, and clearance of dues.
As part of the protest programme, the postgraduate doctors occupied the Central Shaheed Minar premises on Sunday (July 9). The trainee doctors began occupying the Central Shaheed Minar premises at about 10:00 am.
Earlier on Saturday, postgraduate physicians affiliated with the BSMMU and the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS), who are not on the government payroll and are considered private trainee doctors, began observing an indefinite work absentia.
They have demanded for increasing their monthly allowance Tk 50,000 from Tk 20,000 and have vowed not to waver on their stance until the demands are met.
“We don’t want to be out on the streets. We want to go back to the hospital so that patients don't suffer. We will return to work if Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accepts our demands,” said Dr Nurunnabi, general secretary of the Postgraduate Private Trainee Doctors Association.
He said that the trainee doctors are struggling to support their families on Tk 20,000 a month, which often goes unpaid, according to him.
“We get our allowance after six months. How are we supposed to go on [without any pay] for that long? We have families. We want the allowance to be paid every month,” he said.
He further said, “We have sent memoranda to the BSMMU, the BCPS and the health directorate. But we have yet to receive a response. They said our demands were reasonable. But no action has been taken in six months. That is why we have started demonstrating.”
