Nurses stage human chains in Dhaka, Gazipur with reform demands

Nurses, midwives, and nursing students and teachers organised protests in Dhaka and Gazipur this morning demanding reforms in the nursing and midwifery sectors.
In Dhaka, under the banner of “Nursing Reform Council”, they formed a human chain in front of the National Institute of Kidney Diseases and Urology on Mirpur Road 11:00am, which continued till 12:00pm.
In a letter sent to the health adviser, the protesters made a one-point demand, which is the removal of all non-nursing administrative officials from the positions of director general and director of DGNM and, president and registrar of the Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council, calling for the appointment of highly educated and experienced nurses to these positions.
In Gazipur, nurses formed a human chain on the Dhaka-Kishoreganj highway under the banner of “Nursing and Midwifery Reform Council”.
Our Gazipur correspondent reported that over a hundred students from Syeda Zohra Tajuddin Nursing College and Kapasia Upazila Health Complex participated in the demonstration, held around 11:00am in front of the college and health complex.
Shafiqul Islam, principal of Syeda Zohra Tajuddin Nursing College, said that the protest was organised in response to “derogatory” comments made by the Directorate General of Nursing and Midwifery (DGNM), Maksura Noor, about the nursing profession.
Teachers, and nursing officers also joined the programme protesting the remark and demanded reform in the sector, reports our correspondent.
Lecturers of Syeda Zohra Tajuddin Nursing College, senior nurses from from Kapasia Upazila Health Complex, and the president of the Bangladesh Nurses Association, Kapasia Unit also joined the demonstration.