Doctors across the country on Sunday afternoon announced they were temporarily withdrawing their duty boycott movement against workplace attacks on colleagues at Dhaka Medical College the previous day.

At 6pm Sunday, they announced they would be returning to their duties but would stop providing services again from 8pm Monday, unless their four demands are met by then.

For about 24 hours till Monday night, only the emergency department of hospitals across the country would resume services, the doctors said.

Earlier, health adviser Nurjahan Begum assured them of arresting within 24 hours the culprits behind Saturday's attacks on Dhaka Medical College (DMC) doctors, after the adviser held a meeting with the protesters.

Complying with the protesting doctors' demands, two platoons of BGB were also deployed at DMC, encouraging the physicians to withdraw their movement for now.

On Sunday, a case was also filed with Shahbagh Police Station over Saturday's attack on DMC doctors by students from Mirpur-based Bangladesh University of Business and Technology (BUBT). A BUBT teacher Shahrier Anrab, along with three students of the university, have been named as accused in the case. About 50 other unnamed individuals were also implicated in the case.

Furthermore, two probe bodies were formed to look into the attack on doctors, and the allegation of negligence in treatment provided by the doctors.

Three hours before the protest withdrawal announcement, leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement took part in a separate meeting with the protesting doctors and Dhaka Medical College (DMC) chief Brigadier General Asaduzzaman at the hospital's seminar room.

Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah represented Anti-Discrimination Student Movement during the meeting.

On Saturday, some private university students harassed doctors at DMC blaming them for the death of another student. Two other incidents of violence on DMC premises occurred on the same day, prompting doctors to call for countrywide indefinite strike until their workplace security is ensured and Saturday’s attackers are booked.

BDST: 2027 HRS, SEP 1, 2024
MN/SMS