DHAKA: The patients at Bangladesh Institute of Research & Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM) started to leave the hospital as doctors are on strike.

A guardian of a patient named Kazi Nazrul told banglanews, “On April 7, I came here with my mother who is a diabetic patient. But doctors are not coming now due to their strike. If this situation continues, my mother would pass away.”

Besides, most of the relatives of patients are becoming tensed as there were doctors, medicine and other facilities but there was no treatment. And the patients started to leave the hospital.

Earlier, doctors at (BIRDEM) Hospital announced a work abstention for indefinite time on Tuesday noon, protesting assault on colleagues by relatives of a patient who died two days before.

The decision came after the BIRDEM management board held a meeting at 12:00pm there, hospital sources said.

BIRDEM General Hospital deputy director Dr Nazimul Islam told banglanews “no new patient is being admitted now”.

Patients those remained admitted at the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) coronary care unit (CCU) and ward-cabin were undergoing treatment, he claimed.

The patients, however, alleged that no doctors visited to them since the morning.

Five doctors including a female were allegedly assaulted by the relatives of a patient who died at the hospital on Sunday.

BDST: 1051 HRS, APR 16, 2014