Medical admission-seekers seek retest, threaten to block roads
Medical admission-seekers warned the government that they would set up road blockades in the capital and elsewhere in the country on September 27 if their demands are not met by then.
The applicants said they have submitted memoranda to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the directorate general of health services (DGHS) demanding cancellation of the results of the recent controversial admission tests and holding of retests.
The admission-seekers yesterday observed a sit-in demonstration at Shahbagh area in the capital to press for their demands.
Hasibul Hossain, the convener of Student Guardian Oikya Parishad, told The Independent that they would gather at the Central Shaheed Minar again on Wednesday and collect mass signatures to reiterate their demands.
We will collect mass signatures tomorrow and submit these to the Prime Minister and the DGHS. If our demands are not met, we will put up blockades on the important roads in the capital and elsewhere in the country, he warned.
The irate students also demanded the resignation of health minister Mohammad Nasim for holding the medical admission tests, despite the leak in question papers. They said their movement would continue until their demands are met.
As announced earlier, the admission-seekers were scheduled to organise a human chain in front of the Press Club, but they said the police dispersed them and they moved to the Central Shaheed Minar. Later, they gathered at Shabagh and blocked the road for some time, creating a traffic gridlock. Meanwhile, some 101 prominent medical teachers and the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the students wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in separate statements, condemned the incident and demanded retests for the applicants.
Expressing deep concern over the leak of question papers, the teachers said the medical education and health services of the country have been jeopardised by some dishonest persons. They said the incident of the question paper leak was published in the media and spread across the social media on the night before the exam date, and there were marked similarities with the actual questions.
