Intern doctors of JRRMC on strike for protective gear

Intern doctors of Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Medical College Hospital in Sylhet are on strike in demand of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Hundred and fifty intern doctors of Sylhet's first private medical college hospital went on strike on Monday, continuing till tonight.

Today, they filed a written three-point demand to the hospital authority. The demands are: ensuring PPE for all healthcare providers of the hospital, taking liability if anyone from the hospital got infected with coronavirus, and special measures barring patients' attendants.

The intern doctors of the hospital said that they placed their demands more than a week ago but only some senior doctors were facilitated with PPE and they had to call the strike.

Contacted, Dr Arman Ahmed Shiplu, deputy director of the hospital, said, "PPEs are very scarce these days after the outbreak of coronavirus and we got only a few which were provided to the doctors in real need at the special corner dedicated to treat patients with coronavirus like symptoms."

"But we are trying to get more PPEs soon and trying to convince the intern doctors to withdraw their strike. Healthcare of the hospital is not being hampered anyway due to the strike as the flow of patients have been reduced to one third in recent days," he said.