Osmani Hospital interns conditionally withdraw strike, to return to work on 11 July
Interns suspend work stoppage after five-hour meeting with hospital authorities but say strike will resume if security demands are not visibly implemented.
Intern doctors at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital have conditionally withdrawn their indefinite strike following a meeting with the hospital authorities and announced they will return to work on Saturday (11 July), while maintaining pressure for improved security on the hospital campus.
The decision came after a five-hour meeting between leaders of the Intern Doctors Association (IDA) and hospital authorities on Thursday (9 July).
In a statement, IDA Assistant General Secretary Dr Rakin Hanna Anan said all intern doctors would resume duties from Saturday, subject to specific conditions.
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He said the hospital authorities and the relevant administration had been given time to implement the necessary security measures, while a separate meeting between the Sylhet Metropolitan Police commissioner and IDA leaders has been scheduled for Saturday.
The meeting was attended by Sylhet city BNP General Secretary Md Imdad Hossain Chowdhury and Kotwali Police Station Officer-in-Charge Khan Md Mainul Zakir, representing the Sylhet Metropolitan Police commissioner.
The association strongly condemned the attack on doctors, describing violence against healthcare professionals performing public duties as unacceptable. It expressed deep concern over the safety of doctors, intern doctors, students, nurses and other healthcare workers on the hospital and medical college campus.
The intern doctors demanded round-the-clock security at the hospital, rapid security response during emergencies and effective control of unauthorised entry.
Their demands also include identifying and ensuring exemplary punishment for those involved in the assault, strengthening permanent security arrangements, deploying additional police and Ansar personnel if necessary, restricting unrestricted entry of outsiders and vagrants, limiting patients to one attendant, introducing an attendant pass system, tightening access through the hospital's main gates, and ensuring a proper working environment for intern doctors.
The IDA said the work stoppage would resume "more strictly" if there is no visible progress in implementing these demands.
The strike began on Tuesday after a late-night clash involving intern doctors, medical students and relatives of a child patient at the hospital's casualty department.
According to eyewitnesses, several relatives brought a child to the emergency department around 12:30am on Tuesday. An argument with an intern doctor on duty escalated into a scuffle. Medical students alleged that the patient's attendants later returned with more people and assaulted the doctor.
Other intern doctors and students rushed to the scene after hearing about the incident, triggering a clash between the two sides.
At least six people were injured in the violence and received treatment at the hospital. The incident also created panic among patients and their attendants in the emergency department.
