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Intern doctors at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital stopped work at 8:00am on Wednesday, beginning an open-ended abstention over shortages of medicines and equipment, heavy patient pressure and what they describe as an unsafe workplace.

The decision was announced in an urgent notice from the hospital's Intern Doctors Society, signed by its president, Dr SM Tapu, general secretary Dr Mushfiqur Rahman, organising secretary Dr Jamil Akter, treasurer Dr Rakibul Islam and women's affairs secretary Dr Tasnia Risha.

In the notice, the interns said the inpatient wards have long suffered severe shortages of essential medicines and medical equipment. They also complained that visitors and patients' attendants enter the wards without restriction, and that Ansar members on duty have allegedly been negligent, leaving intern doctors exposed to hostile crowds and group threats.

Several interns said they had received death threats. One female intern was forced to leave a ward in civilian clothes after being threatened by a patient's attendants, according to the notice. The society also said the hospital has no working observation rooms and no operating casualty department, which pushes more patients into the inpatient wards and leaves a small number of doctors managing a heavy load.

The interns said they had raised these problems with hospital authorities repeatedly and received assurances but no effective action. Their five demands are adequate supplies of medicines and medical equipment in the inpatient wards, full security for doctors at work, a rule limiting each patient to two attendants, active Ansar presence in every ward on the day of admission and afterwards, and the immediate opening of the casualty department.

The society warned that the abstention would continue until the demands are met and that it would announce tougher programmes if nothing changes.

Hospital authorities said they were trying to end the standoff. RMCH spokesperson Dr Sk Shamim Ahmed told The Daily Star that a meeting with the interns was being held, that mid-level doctors were attending to patients in the wards, and that patients were not suffering. He did not say whether the hospital had accepted any of the five demands.

Patients and their families described a morning of uncertainty. Inpatient Rafiqul Islam said he had been worried since early morning, but mid-level doctors had visited him and he had received medicines and primary treatment as usual. Abdul Kuddus said regular check-ups had been somewhat delayed in the absence of the interns and urged the authorities to settle the dispute quickly. Sufia Begum said she had not faced major problems because senior doctors were providing treatment, while Rahima Khatun said overcrowding in the wards was disrupting care.

The action follows a similar stoppage in April, when interns at the same hospital walked out for 24 hours after they said three colleagues were harassed by patients' relatives in two wards. About 230 interns joined that protest, and it was called off after the authorities gave assurances on safety and staffing. A hospital spokesman said at the time that RMCH was operating beyond its capacity and relied on about 262 intern doctors to handle the patient load.

Reports differed on the length of the current programme. The Daily Star said the interns had announced an indefinite abstention that would last until their demands were met, while Jamuna TV described the first phase as a 24-hour stoppage that began at 8:00am. The Intern Doctors Society's own notice, as reported by both outlets, did not set an end time.

Several questions remain unanswered. Neither the hospital nor the health ministry has said how many interns are staying away, how many patients have been affected, or whether the casualty department will be reopened. There has been no public response from the Directorate General of Health Services, and no timeline has been given for the meeting with the hospital authorities.

What happens next depends on that meeting. If the authorities offer written assurances, the interns could return to work as they did in April; if not, the society has said it will escalate. Either way, the dispute points to a wider strain on Bangladesh's public medical colleges, where interns carry much of the ward work and repeatedly complain that security and supplies have not kept pace with patient numbers.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman told BNP leaders in Chattogram on Tuesday night that his government will not interfere in the coming local government elections, and asked them to put forward candidates who are acceptable to voters and can win.

He was speaking as chief guest at a BNP organisational meeting at the Radisson Blu Chattogram Bay View, which brought together about 450 leaders and activists from the party's city, north and south district units and its associate bodies. The city unit's convener, Ershad Ullah, chaired the meeting, and member secretary Nazimur Rahman conducted it.

According to The Daily Star, the prime minister said the government would not interfere in the polls "unlike the previous fascist government". He asked the party to unite behind candidates who have public acceptance and can win the people's vote, Prothom Alo reported.

Law and order took up much of his speech. Tarique asked party leaders to work with law enforcement agencies and respected members of the community to keep order, and said crime could be reduced by half if everyone carried out their duties properly. He warned that BNP members must not become involved in crime themselves, and that there would be no leniency on that point.

Belayet Hossain, chairman of the Chattogram Development Authority and a former joint convener of the party's Chattogram North district unit, said after the meeting that the prime minister had also told leaders to stay united against "rumours and conspiracies" that he said were being spread in the name of the Awami League, whose activities are banned, and of Jamaat-e-Islami. Tarique asked them to take the government's work to the public, Belayet said.

Nazimur Rahman, the city unit's member secretary, said the instruction was to select candidates who could win through people's votes. Neither he nor the prime minister's public remarks set out how a shortlist would be drawn up, or who would have the final say.

The meeting came at the end of a day in which Tarique visited Durga Puja mandaps in three divisions: Rangpur and Rajshahi earlier, then Chattogram in the evening. At the JM Sen Hall mandap in Rahmatganj he told members of the Hindu community that religion is a personal matter and that citizenship is the identity shared by everyone in the country. He recalled that people of all faiths fought and died in 1971 and took part in the 2024 uprising, and said there should be no division in the name of religion.

BSS reported that he donated Tk 20 lakh for the development of the mandap, and that the puja committee presented him with a bonsai tree. The state news agency described the Chattogram stop as the first visit by a head of government to a puja mandap in the port city since independence.

The organisational meeting was the second Tarique has held with Chattogram BNP leaders since taking office. The first was on 9 August at the same hotel, during his first visit to the city as prime minister, when he met leaders from the city, north and south districts.

Several questions remain open. No election schedule was mentioned in the reports of Tuesday's meeting, and no candidate names were disclosed. It is also unclear how the party would enforce the prime minister's warning against criminal involvement by members, or what mechanism would be used to settle disputes between rival local aspirants.

The claim that the Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami are spreading rumours was made by a BNP leader who attended the meeting; the reports reviewed did not include a response from either group, and no evidence for the allegation was presented.

The prime minister's estimate that crime could fall by half was his own, not a figure from a study or a police statement. Crime statistics for the period were not cited at the meeting.

Tarique returned to Dhaka at 1:10am on Wednesday by military aircraft, Dhaka Tribune and Bangla Tribune reported. BNP units are continuing their organisational preparations, and the party is expected to settle its candidate list nearer the vote. For now, the clearest commitments from the meeting are the promise of non-interference and the instruction to choose candidates on public acceptance rather than factional weight.