Postgrad doctors of BSMMU, pvt hospitals lift blockade after govt's assurance on pay hike
A protesting doctor said they want their monthly allowance to increase to Tk50,000 from Tk25,000 as prices of essentials have risen
Highlights:
- Postgraduate trainee doctors lift blocked Shahbagh Intersection in the capital
- Govt assures Grade 9 pay and facilities
- Work boycott to continue till demands met
- The BSMMU residents want a hike in monthly allowance from Tk25,000 to Tk50,000
- They also denounced the "Jamaat-Shibir" tag given to them allegedly by AL
- They claim their movement has been ongoing for three years
Postgraduate trainee doctors at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), who boycotted their work and gathered at Shahbagh, have lifted their blockade after receiving assurance from the government on being granted a pay hike.
The blockade was lifted from the intersection at 6pm, said Dr Jabir Hossain, president of the Post Graduate Private Trainee Doctors Association.
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At around 2:30pm, the doctors' association held a meeting with officials concerned, including Md Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the chief adviser for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Prof Nazmul Hossain, director general of medical education, and Prof Md Abu Jafor, director general of health services.
Following which, the protesters were assured their demands would be taken into consideration. From now on, their salaries and benefits will be provided as per the government's Grade 9 criteria.
Until 5:20pm, the demonstration was ongoing. Sarjis Alam, general secretary of the July Shaheed Smriti Foundation, reached there and spoke to the protesters. Later on, he informed that the notification regarding doctors' updated salary, allowances and benefits will be released on Thursday (26 December).
In response, Dr Jabir said they will uphold their decision to boycott work indefinitely. Once their demands to this end are met, they would return to work. "Given the current economic conditions of the country, we have agreed upon the government's proposal. We are lifting street blockade programmes for the time being. However, until we get the notification, we will not return to work."
The doctors demanded a hike in their monthly allowance – from Tk25,000 to Tk50,000.
The protest, which started at around 1:30pm today [22 December], stopped vehicular movement in the Shahbagh area, causing immense pain for commuters, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police's (DMP) Shahbagh Zone Assistant Commissioner (Traffic) Mehedi Hasan Shakil.
Currently, these doctors get Tk25,000 per month as allowance. A protesting doctor said they want the amount to be increased to Tk50,000 as prices of essentials have increased.
Their movement has been running for three years now but the previous government did not pay heed to their demands, said the doctor.
"The Awami League government tried to foil our movement by putting the tag of Jamaat-Shibir on us. This administration has to quickly accept our demands and publish a circular in this regard," said the doctor asking not to be named.
The protester further said the sit-in protest will continue until their demands are met.
Later, a six-member representative team of the demonstrators went to the secretariat to discuss the issue, where they said new programmes would be announced if their demands remained unfulfilled.
Protests had started at the beginning of this year demanding an increase in salaries of intern doctors from Tk20,000 to Tk30,000 and the salary of postgraduate private trainee doctors to Tk50,000.
On 13 June, postgraduate doctors had even laid a siege to the BSMMU vice-chancellor's offices, demanding the increase in allowance.
Then a couple of days later, their salary was increased by Tk5,000 by the authorities.
However, this did not appease the doctors and they continued their protests intermittently since July, a flare-up of which is being seen today.
