“We held a token strike at all teaching hospitals in the province for 12 days and gave space to the government but it does not seem to be interested in resolving our issues which has compelled the PDA to hold a long march,” PDA information secretary Dr Salman told The Express Tribune on Monday. The PDA, during a meeting held last week, decided to march from Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) to the CM House on December 23 alongside doctors from across the province.
The provincial government was given time to address the doctors’ issues but the government was least bothered, participants of the meeting had noted. “The doctors had never thought about agitating against the government but are compelled to do so,” added Salman. “We gave the government time to think and rethink but it is yet to consider our reservations or honestly address them.”
Doctors from across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) will participate in the long march and hold a sit-in outside the CM House, after which the association will give eight more days to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf regime to address the issues at hand.
“After the eight days (December 23 to December 31), the doctors will be compelled to extend the strike to all the hospitals across the province,” said Salman. “The government will be responsible for the situation as it unfurls after December 23.”
On December 12, Minister for Health Shahram Tarakai said the government was not sitting idle and is closely monitoring issues being faced by locals because of the doctors’ strike at teaching hospitals. He said the government is considering deducting salaries of protesting doctors.
On November 18, the PDA threatened to strike across K-P against possible legislation for the health sector, as, the association claimed, the health ministry should have consulted all stakeholders before proposing changes. The PDA had raised objections after the government imposed a ban on doctors’ practicing in their clinics, asking them to continue at hospital. The association expressed serious reservations over giving the Post Graduate Medical Institute’s (PGMI) control to the secretary of health.
PDA’s demands also include a stipend for house officers and trainee medical officers.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2014.
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