Strike had been called over dissolution of PGMI, non-payment of allowances. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) has issued show-cause notices to 130 employees of the hospital including doctors, paramedical staff and nurses over Wednesday’s strike. The notice will be followed by FIRs against the employees under relevant sections of law.
According to the statement issued by the hospital management, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, employees were found guilty of contempt of court and boycotting their services, leaving patients in distress. It also stated the hospital management will not allow staff to violate the law and play with the lives of patients. According to the document, the hospital administration will probe the matter, gather evidence against the employees and produce it before the court of law.
The management also thanked Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) and all Class-IV employees for not becoming part of the strike.
The notices were issued to several people, including Syed Roidad Shah, Dr Musa Kaleem, Sirajuddin Burki, Muhammad Ali, Nasreen Qayum, Nabi Amin (HMC), Dr Alamgir, Farrukh Jalil and several others. Shakir, along with Afsar Ali, Muhammad Ali, Nabi Amin and Sartaj were issued notices for locking the out-patient department.
K-P Secretary Health Jamal Yousaf told The Express Tribune minutes before the notification was issued there was a possibility of suspending or even terminating doctors and other health employees protesting against the government reforms.
“Medical teaching institutions (MTI) have their own set-up which runs under the board of governors (BoG), therefore any decision that is taken will be issued from BoGs which are autonomous and not from the health department,” he added.
On January 29, LRH had imposed a “state of emergency” of sorts under the Essential Services Act 1958 to prevent protests over the dissolution of the PGMI. A senior LRH official told The Express Tribune, “The circular has been issued and political activities and strikes have been banned at the hospital.”
Dissenting group
Health employees in three major hospitals—LRH, Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC)—boycotted work after Health Employees Coordination Council (HECC) announced a strike Wednesday.
Association members of HECC, Young Doctors Association (YDA) and others announced a boycott of duties over dissolution of the Post Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI), non-payment of allowances and overtime payments for those performing duties beyond their work hours. Several health employees of the protesting group were also transferred on Tuesday.
The dissenting group of health employees stated the government had completely failed in providing relief to patients and doctors. They added the ministry of health was compelling health employees to boycott services by not addressing their issues.
According to the doctors, the government held a hurried meeting with some important members of the health community at CM House a few days ago to give an impression that things were under control. However, several prominent doctors associations had not participated in this moot, dispelling any sense of government-doctor harmony.
“You saw things were at standstill in all major hospitals across the provincial capital,” HECC president Dr Musa Kaleem told The Express Tribune minutes before the notices were issued. “We cannot even think about adding to the miseries of the public but this is what the government has forced us to do.”
He said the strike was held for one day and they were still open to negotiating with the government. “Health employees will wait for any positive response from the government for the next few days,” he added. “If they are not interested in addressing the issue, we will boycott all services at hospitals,” Kaleem told the media.
Pro-government
The PDA and Insaf Doctors Forum (IDF) refused to join the boycott and arranged out-patient services at different wards. However, they remained invisible as patients were not aware OPD services were being provided during the strike.
The OPD blocks at all the major hospitals were locked since the paramedical staff, nursing staff association and clerical staff had also boycotted the services.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 4th, 2016.
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