The Punjab government on Tuesday suspended 188 doctors and recruited 465 new ones to normalise the situation at hospitals, especially at emergency wards, as protests continued.
Young doctors across Punjab have been protesting demanding an increase in their salaries for the past few weeks. Negotiations between the Punjab government and the YDA broke down on March 31 over the issue of senior registrars’ salaries. The YDA insisted that their salaries be increased to Rs50,000 per month (from the current Rs30,000 per month) but the Punjab government argued that it cannot do so.
The Young Doctors Association, however, has played down claims by the Punjab Health Department that fresh recruits have started working in government hospitals.
Doctors say all departments are dysfunctional with an exception of cardiology institutes as their strike calling for pay raise goes unheard even on 36th day.
The Medical Superintendent (MS) of Jinnah hospital has also been suspended for supporting the young doctor’s cause. The association's General Secretary Dr Salman Kazim has blamed the opposition parties for politicising the issue.
Doctors in Karachi, Hyderabad and Nawabshah also announced on Monday that they will go on strike from Tuesday after talks with health ministry officials broke down, while Balochistan physicians endorsed the demands of Punjab doctors and said they would also go on strike if their demands were not met.
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