Ultimatum: YDA threatens strike from February 15

‘Govt has not implemented the agreed service structure’.

LAHORE: The Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) on Monday threatened to go on strike in out patient departments (OPDs) of public hospitals in Lahore if their demands were not met by February 15.

The announcement was made during a seminar at Mayo Hospital. The YDA also took out a protest rally. Around 200 doctors participated in the rally that marched from Mayo Hospital to Neela Gumbad.

YDA’s Mayo Hospital unit general secretary announced that the next demonstration would be held at Shaikh Zayed Hospital Raheem Yar Khan on January 29. He said that the strike at the OPDs in Lahore would be observed at different hospitals on different dates to cause minimal disruption.

YDA president Ajmal Chaudhry accused the government of not implementing the agreed service structure. “The government has not met our demands for induction of doctors in BS-18, for pay raises and for resolution of problems faced by post-graduate trainees,” he said. Health Secretary Jawad Raffique Malik said that they had already moved a requisition for creating 9,000 doctors’ posts. “We are improving the service structure for doctors not due to the YDA pressure, but because it is in the best interests of the Health Department,” he said. Malik said YDA leaders would be briefed in this regard. “We shall brief them about the efforts being made by the department regarding the improvement of their service structure,” he said. He said that the Health Department would address problems faced by doctors at any level.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2015.