B’desh health assistants continue indefinite strike
Dhaka
Health assistants across Bangladesh continued their indefinite work stoppage on Sunday as part of their ongoing push to fulfil a six-point demand, including the upgrade of their entry-level positions to the 14th grade, according to local media reports.
Fazlul Haque Chowdhury, member secretary of the Bangladesh Health Assistant Association Central Coordination Council (BHAA), said that thousands of health assistants began a sit-in protest at Dhaka’s Central Shaheed Minar and stayed through the night. He confirmed that an 11-member delegation had left for the Secretariat to hold talks with the interim government.
Despite the scheduled meeting, Chowdhury reiterated that the protest would not end without a formal government order addressing their primary demand. But we will not withdraw our program unless the government issues a GO upgrading our entry post from 16th grade to 14th grade, he said.
The association had previously warned that a nationwide work stoppage would begin if the government failed to meet their demands by November 28. Their six-point charter includes calls to amend recruitment regulations, eliminate salary disparities and grant technical status to health assistants.
Tensions between health assistants and authorities have been ongoing since October 1, when they launched a strike over the same demands. A temporary suspension was announced on October 6 after a meeting with the chief of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in Mohakhali, allowing the crucial typhoid vaccination campaign to proceed as planned on October 12.
Speaking to bdNews24 at the time, Chowdhury confirmed that only vaccination-related duties would resume, while all other activities would remain paused until October 30. He warned that the strike would resume thereafter if authorities failed to show visible progress in addressing their concerns.