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Published : 12 Mar 2025, 05:26 PM
Protesting doctors and medical students have reached the Secretariat to present their four-point list of demands after police halted their march amid a work stoppage.
Habibur Rahman Sohag, organisational secretary of Doctors’ Movement for Justice, led the 15-member contingent to the health ministry office on Wednesday.
They travelled to the health ministry office under the Secretariat from the Shikkha Bhaban intersection after 2:30pm.
Earlier, hundreds of doctors and medical students rallied at the Central Shaheed Minar to set off for the Secretariat around 2:15pm.
Police barricaded the procession in front of the Shikkha Bhaban. The protesters began shouting slogans while some of them sat down on the road to demonstrate.
Police then requested them to send a representative team to the Secretariat, though the protesters wanted officers from the ministry to reach out to them. Following extended discussions, protesters agreed to send a delegation.
The doctors and medical students began gathering at the Shaheed Minar after 10pm as scheduled. There they began shouting slogans against Medical Assistant Training School, or MATS, students, who sought to attach the title “doctor” to their their names.
Around 12pm, the High Court ruled that only those with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, or MBBS, degree or a Bachelor of Dental Surgery, or BDS, degree can use the title “doctor” in front of their names.
The protesters then decided to take out a procession and head towards the Secretariat to press for their four remaining demands.
Tawhidur Rahman, member of the national steering committee organising the protest, said: “One of our demands was met. We now have four more demands. But we will travel to the Secretariat to press our demands. We will not leave the streets until the [remaining] four demands are met.”
After holding a day-long programme on Tuesday, a work stoppage was announced at a press conference at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Doctors and medical students announced a protest programme to close indoor and outdoor departments in all hospitals across the country. However, ICU, CCU and emergency treatment service have been available during the protest.
FIVE KEY DEMANDS OF DOCTORS AND STUDENTS
• Only MBBS and BDS graduates should be allowed to run a private practice. The government must issue a notice regarding this.
• A committee should be introduced to reform the Medical Assistant Course curriculum in seven working days and all substandard MATS institutions should be shut down through a special drive.
• The government must recruit enough doctors immediately to fill vacant posts in the healthcare sector and extend the age limit for the Bangladesh Civil Services, or BCS, medical recruitment to 34 years.
• A law must be enacted to protect doctors. Also, a specific pay scale should be introduced for doctors working in the private health sector.
