7 medical aspirants fall sick as hunger strike continues

At least seven students protesting the leak of the medical college admission test question fell sick as they are continuing their fast unto death at Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka for the second consecutive day today.

Around 50 medical college admission aspirants and guardians started the strike yesterday morning.

One among the seven, Arafat, told our DU correspondent that they will continue the fast until death.

Some interns of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, which is close to Shahid Minar, are providing treatment to the ill students, the correspondent said.

They started the hunger strike as several protest programmes like marches, rallies, and exhibitions have failed to change the government's position to take the MBBS and Bangladesh Dental Surgery (BDS) admission test again.

The candidates have been demanding a fresh admission test because, they claimed, the test questions were leaked a day before the exam was held on September 18.

A number of politicians, leaders and activists of student organisations, students of Dhaka University and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), and different professionals yesterday joined the protesters and expressed solidarity with their demand.