PESHAWAR:
Doctors in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) formally ended their strike after getting assurances that their demands would be fulfilled.
The announcement was made by Post Graduate Medical Institute Dean Prof Azmat Talat after successful talks between young doctors and the government. Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) President Dr Shah Sawaar, K-P Health Special Secretary Dr Noorul Eman Khan and others were present. Talat said that he held a meeting with Provincial Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar on Monday, where he was assured that doctors would be given the same perks as their counterparts in Punjab.
The provincial government agreed to accept the five-point agenda put forward by the PDA, which demanded increased salaries, non-practicing allowance and perks and a service structure for medical professionals.
The PDA strike caused hundreds of patients across the province to suffer as they were left unattended. Claims of patients dying due to the negligence of doctors are rampant. In one such incident, an infant passed away at Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar on Monday after doctors allegedly refused to provide medical attention to the child due to the strike.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2011.
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