Private clinics, hospitals and diagnostic centres in Chittagong withdrew their indefinite strike this noon after authorities assured them of meeting their demands.

Owners of the private clinics and hospitals have withdrawn the strike for the moment based on the assurance, Liakat Ali Khan, general secretary of the owners' platform, who is also managing director of Max Hospital, told The Daily Star over phone.

Patients have been suffering for the second day today as private clinics, hospitals and diagnostic centres in Chittagong went on an indefinite strike yesterday.

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Owners of the private clinics and hospitals called the strike in response to mobile court drives run by Rapid Action Battalion in the city's four hospitals.

As a result, the rush of patients has increased in the two government hospitals including the Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) since morning, our staff correspondent from Chittagong city reports.

One of the four was Max Hospital, already under-fire after the unexpected death of a three-year-old on June 29. Two probe bodies -- one formed by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the other led by the Chittagong civil surgeon -- found the hospital plagued with irregularities and anomalies.

Soon after the drives began around 11:00am yesterday, Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) and Besarkari Chikitsha Protisthan Malik Samity, a platform of private clinic and hospital owners, held an emergency meeting and announced the indefinite strike.

Meanwhile, a section of people including journalists will hold a rally in front of the Press Club today protesting the anarchy in the healthcare sector in the city, the correspondent said.