Seventeen organizations representing medical students, doctors, and intern doctors have announced a protest in Dhaka, where they will burn “replica” certificates near the Raju Sculpture on the Dhaka University campus to press for a five-point list of demands.
The protest began with a mass signature collection at 10 a.m. on Monday, with the certificate burning scheduled to start around 11:30 a.m., according to Nurunnabi, the general secretary of the Post Graduate Private Trainee Doctors Association.
Doctors’ associations and medical students held virtual public hearings before deciding to organize this protest, he informed bdnews24.com.
“There’s no need to study MBBS or BDS if one can treat patients with just a MATA certificate. There’s no need to have an MBBS or BDS degree in a country where anyone can become a doctor by filing a writ in court. This is why we are staging this protest,” he said.
The doctors and students presented five main demands:
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Only MBBS and BDS graduates should be allowed to use the title “doctor,” and all ongoing cases regarding law and public health must be settled by March 12. There should be no confusing titles like “diploma doctor,” which is unique to Bangladesh and not recognized by the WHO.
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Only MBBS and BDS graduates should be allowed to run private practices, with the government issuing a formal notice about this.
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A committee should be established to reform the Medical Assistant Course curriculum within seven working days, and all substandard MATS institutions should be shut down through a special drive.
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The government must recruit enough doctors immediately to fill vacant posts in the healthcare sector and extend the age limit for Bangladesh Civil Services (BCS) medical recruitment to 34 years.
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A law must be enacted to protect doctors, and a specific pay scale should be introduced for doctors working in the private healthcare sector.
MATS students have been protesting for a long time, demanding appointments to vacant 10th-grade positions, job opportunities at government and private levels, curriculum revisions, one-year internships with allowances while maintaining the four-year academic course, the cancellation of the proposed Allied Health Professional Board, the formation of the “Medical Education Board of Bangladesh,” and internationally recognized higher education in clinical subjects and BM&DC standards.
One of the key demands of MATS students is the right to use the title “doctor” before their names. A writ petition on this issue is scheduled for a hearing on March 12.
