Organisers of the abstention programme earlier said they will announce a tougher movement today, at the end of their three-day work abstention programme, if the authorities do not meet their demands that included arrest and punishment of those who beat up two nurses of the hospital on Wednesday night.

Witnesses said hundreds of demonstrators barricaded the Mirpur Road for about half an hour yesterday.

The blockade that started at 10:00am led to a few kilometres tailback on the road stretching from Asad Gate in the south and Kalyanpur in the north. Later, police removed them from the road.

Meanwhile, patients claimed that they have been suffering seriously for the last two days due to the work abstention programme as doctors and nurses are only attending the emergency patients.

"I am not getting the medicines that I used to get from the hospital for the last few days. Moreover, doctors and nurses are not attending me regularly," Anwar Ali who was admitted to the hospital on August 9 with heart ailment told reporters.

Like Saturday, many patients were found leaving the hospital yesterday.

The patients also alleged that most of the operations scheduled for yesterday were not done due to the strike. Administrative activities also came to a halt at the hospital where sufficient policemen have been deployed to avert any unwanted incident.

Their other demands include construction of a boundary wall around the hospital, a permanent police camp on its premises and removal of the slum adjoining the hospital.

On Wednesday night, a group of students of Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University beat up two staff nurses of emergency wing of the hospital -- Abu Bakar Siddik and Raisuddin -- for their refusal to give penicillin injection for a fellow student suffering from rheumatic fever. The nurses said they could not give such injection without a doctor's prescription.

Injured Abu Bakar was stated to be in a critical condition.