BANGLADESH

Doctors at government hospitals in Moulavibazar district withdrew their indefinite strike on Sunday night.

"We have withdrawn our strike based on the assurance of the administration and political leaders, and considering the humanitarian issue regarding the patients," Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) general secretary Mohammad Shahjahan Chowdhury told .

The decision to withdraw the strike that has been ongoing for three days was taken at a meeting of the Moulavibazar unit of BMA around 11pm.

The strike, demanding the release of a doctor sentenced by a mobile court and the withdrawal of the deputy commissioner and magistrate, started off Friday morning.

Around 200 doctors of the district headquarters, seven upazila health centres and union health and family planning centres enforced the strike. As a result, the halt in medical treatment, except in the emergency, caused huge suffering for the patients.

A mobile court on Thursday sentenced Moulavibazar Sadar Hospital's emergency ward's medical officer (EMO) Mahmudul Alam Rownak, 36, to a month in prison for neglecting his government duty and giving out certificates to patients of a private medical facility.

At the same time, the court sent Lab Aid Diagnostics and Consultation Centre manager Assaduzzaman Tanim, 35, to a month-long imprisonment and slapped Tk 5,000-fine and another 15 days in prison if the fine is not paid.