At least 50 nurses were injured in a clash with police last night while trying to enter the health minister's Dhanmondi residence in the capital to press for their demand for revising the nurses' recruitment process.

The clash erupted around 8:00pm when police used water cannons to disperse the agitating unemployed nurses and foil their attempt to enter the minister's house.

In retaliation, the nurses threw brickbats at police. Later, the law enforcers charged baton on them, said witnesses.

Ten policemen were also injured in the incident.

Talking to The Daily Star, a number of nurses claimed that around a hundred outsiders carrying sticks and iron rods joined police and beat them up.

The wounded nurses were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), Ibne Sina Hospital and Bangladesh Medical College Hospital.

“I suffered injuries in my left leg as police hit me with sticks. I fell on the street and couldn't stand up. Later, other nurses rescued me,” Tanjila Begum, one of the wounded nurses, told The Daily Star around 10:30pm, lying in a bed at Ibne Sina Hospital.

More than 30 of the injured nurses were taken to the DMCH for treatment.

Within minutes, several hundred nurses gathered on the DMCH premises and started chanting slogans, demanding punishment to Health Minister Mohammed Nasim.

Emergency medicare was disrupted at the DMCH for several hours from 10:00pm due to the agitation.

Earlier, the nurses under the banner of Unemployed Diploma Nurses Association and Bangladesh Basic Graduate Nurses' Society (BBGNS) took position in front of the health minister's residence, as the deadline for arranging a meeting between the prime minister and the nurses expired yesterday.

Several hundred nurses have been demonstrating since early April, protesting a March 28 Public Service Commission circular on recruitment of 3,616 senior nurses at public hospitals. The circular said applicants must be below 36 and have Bachelor of Science degree or diploma in nursing to be eligible for taking the recruitment test.

The nurses say the prerequisites for taking the exam were unjust because those who got the degrees a few years back may be left out because of the age limit.

Early last month, the health minister pledged that he would arrange a meeting between the nurses and the PM by May 24 so she could give a decision on the postponement of the exam slated for June 3. But it didn't happen, said Nahida Akhter, general secretary of Bangladesh Basic Graduate Nurses' Society.

Later on May 30, Nasim again pledged to arrange a meeting by June 1, she said.

As the office hours yesterday ended without any meeting with the PM, the nurses marched towards the health minister's residence and took position there around 6:00pm, Nahida told this correspondent.

Contacted, Noor-e Azam, officer-in-charge of Dhanmondi Police Station, said the nurses were trying to enter the minister's house, breaking the police barricade in front of it.

Police requested them to stop but they didn't, and at one point police had to use water cannons to disperse them, he added.

Asked about injuries caused to many nurses during the clash, Noor-e Azam said he didn't know anything about it.

“The nurses threw brickbats for around half-an-hour from different alleys, hurting some 10 policemen,” he said.