Pakistan

Specialisation courses: YDA to hold protest rally against new policy

Say govt has started creating further problems instead of addressing earlier demands

Mudassir Raja July 12, 2016

The YDA representative further said that the government had yet to address their earlier demands for pay raise, promotion, provision of missing facilities in public hospitals, and lowering prices of life-saving drugs. PHOTO: YDA FACEBOOK PAGE

RAWALPINDI: Young Doctors Association (YDA) has announced to carry out a protest rally on Benazir Bhutto Road, on Wednesday (today), against the Punjab government’s new centralisation policy about induction of doctors in postgraduate specialisation courses including FCPS and MS programmes.

The doctors remained busy in sensitising other physicians working at Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, and Rawalpindi District Headquarters Hospital about the negative effects of the policy, announced on July 4th.

Discussions with junior and senior doctors revealed that Punjab government had given all powers to the health secretary about proposing names of doctors for various specialisation courses.

Earlier, medical superintendents and professors at a public hospital used to recommend doctors for postgraduate courses to principal of the concerned medical college.

Now, the office of the health secretary will make final recommendations.

Further, the doctors were unhappy for not being given choice to join specific public hospitals for specialisations.

They said that facilities and faculties were not similar in all public hospitals across Punjab.

The facilities in hospitals in Lahore were undoubtedly better than those in Rawalpindi, the doctors added.

YDA Rawalpindi President Dr Haider Akhtar, while talking to The Express Tribune said that the government instead of addressing earlier demands of the doctors had started creating further problems.

He said that there was resentment among doctors against the new induction policy and they were ready to come out on roads.

Dr Akhtar said that they remained busy on Tuesday in sensitising fellow doctors about the new policy and had decided to carry out a protest rally outside the Benazir Bhutto Hospital at 11am.

The YDA representative further said that the government had yet to address their earlier demands for pay raise, promotion, provision of missing facilities in public hospitals, and lowering prices of life-saving drugs.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2016.