The diploma intern nurses and midwives working in the 250-bed Brahmanbaria General Hospital went on strike, human chained and protested on Sunday morning. They have given a memorandum to the hospital superintendent in this regard. According to the announcement of the Central Committee of Bangladesh Diploma Intern Nurses Association (BDIN), intern nurses working in different hospitals and medical college hospitals across the country are holding a strike, human chain and protest rally. Diploma intern nurses and midwives working at Brahmanbaria General Hospital gathered in front of Brahmanbaria Press Club around 10 am on Sunday morning and formed a human chain and rally. First and second year students of Nursing Institute Brahmanbaria also participated in the program expressing solidarity with them.
At this time, festoons with various slogans were seen in their hands demanding the intern allowance. On the festoon held by the nurses, ‘Nurse mother, why are you silent, your silence makes us cry, we are committed to service, but we are hesitant to pay our allowance, not assurance, we want implementation, we want to start intern allowance, we have to pay the price of our labor, we have to pay intern allowance. No, it’s our right, we want only one intern allowance.’
On behalf of Bangladesh Diploma Intern Nurses Association, General Secretary Tanzila Akhtar, Joint General Secretary Sahidul Islam, Organizing Secretary Samia Akhtar, Organizing Secretary Samia Akhtar, Co-Organizing Secretary spoke at the human chain under the chairmanship of Apu Ahmed, President of the convening committee of Nursing Institute Brahmanbaria and presided over by Robin Sarkar, Vice President of the organization. Ivan Khan, Introductory Editor Afsana Akhtar and Social Service Affairs Editor Akalima Akhtar.
The intern nurses said in the human chain and protest rally, ‘We are working as intern nurses in Brahmanbaria General Hospital after passing Diploma in Nursing Science and Midwifery and Diploma in Midwifery course at Nursing Institute Brahmanbaria. In the logbook provided by Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council (BNMC) page 14 mentions the payment of intern allowance as per point number one of the Code of Contact and Regulation, but we are not getting any allowance during the intern. We have petitioned the BNMC and the Directorate of Nursing and Midwifery (DGNM) regarding our demands, but we are not getting any solution to solve the problem with the interns.’
They also said, ‘In Bangladesh, talented students from middle-class and low-class families are studying nursing. At the end of the three-year course, they are engaged in 24-hour hospital patient care. We are supposed to get an intern allowance of 6 to 8 thousand rupees per month. We have started a strike to demand the collection of this unfair due. The strike will continue until the intern issue is resolved.’
