Doctors call off strike after gynaecologists released on bail

Private medical practitioners on Tuesday called off their two-day strike protesting the arrest of two gynaecologists, who allegedly caused the death of a mother and her newborn at a Dhaka private hospital last month, after the duo were granted bail.

The two gynaecologists of Dhaka Central Hospital – Dr Shahzadi Mustarshida Sultana and Dr Muna Shaha – were involved in a failed C-section of a 25-year old mother last month that resulted in the death of the mother and her newborn child.

The protesting physicians, from around the country, claim the arrests were made without proper investigation, while some claim the deceased's family is more guilty.

Following their release, the doctors resumed seeing patients in private chambers and restarted operations on Tuesday, said Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Professor Dr ABM Khurshid Alam.

Dr Khurshid spoke after a meeting of Federation of Professional Medical Specialist Society of Bangladesh at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. About 44 organisations of the protesting physicians attended the meeting. Mentionable, public hospitals and emergency as well as indoor services of private hospitals were kept out of the scope of the protest movement.

The health directorate chief said, the meeting participants discussed the security of physicians and demanded legal provisions in this regard. Doctors at the meeting also addressed the issue of safety of patients and pledged that they also want to ensure proper medical services for afflicted people. They will decide on their plans in this regard later, said Dr Khurshid.

Patients suffered on Monday and till Tuesday noon due to the absence of private medical practitioners in their chambers. However, the situation started improving since the afternoon. Many booked doctor appointments after learning the strike has been withdrawn. Not all the doctors were available on Tuesday as per schedule, though.

Many patients on Tuesday could not get medical diagnostic reports on time despite contacting testing centres repeatedly at intervals as doctors had not been available to review and approve the documents. Patients were forced to delay their treatments as they were not provided test results on the prefixed time.

During the two-day strike, some public hospitals, like the Khulna Medical College Hospital, had to grapple with an unusually high number of new patients as private doctors' chambers were not open to share the burden.