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.