Recruitment: Young Doctors stop work at outdoor patients departments

Demonstrations held in various districts to protest against central induction policy for postgraduate training

LAHORE: Doctors led by Young Doctors Association (YDA) on Wednesday abandoned work at the outdoor patients departments (OPD) of public hospitals of the city after announcing a strike to protest the central induction policy announced by the government for postgraduate training at teaching institutions.

Members of YDA chapters at Services, Jinnah, Mayo, Childrens and Sir Ganga Ram hospitals staged demonstrations on The Mall, Canal Road and Jail Road. They chanted slogans against the government and demanded withdrawal of the central induction policy (CIP). More than 200 doctors participated in each demonstration. The YDA chapter at Mayo Hospital staged a demonstration in front of the Provincial Assembly for an hour.

YDA leaders said doctors would not resume work at the OPDs till the government withdrew the CIP notification.

“The number of doctors who participated in today’s protest should tell you how many people are concerned about this policy,” said Dr Zafarullah, general secretary of the YDA at Mayo Hospital.

“If the government does not address our concerns, we will shut down OPDs across the province,” he said.

Matloob Mughal, YDA’s central vice president, said the central induction system would promote nepotism. “We must resist this.”

Talking to The Express Tribune, Health Department spokesman Akhlaq Ali Khan said the government would not withdraw the CIP. “Interested candidates are already filling forms online,” he said.



He said the new policy had been introduced after a series of meetings with vice chancellors of medical universities and principals of colleges besides other stakeholders, including representatives of medical associations.

He said the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department had organised the meetings. “The policy was devised because deserving candidates were being ignored and a mafia was accommodating certain applicants by pressurising heads of institutes,” he said.

He said the Health Department wanted to discourage these practices.

Dera Ghazi Khan

Several members of the Young Doctors Association took out a rally on Wednesday to protest against the central induction policy. They walked from the Dera Ghazi Khan Teaching Hospital medical superintendent’s office to Jampur Road shouting slogans against the government. They carried placards and a banner.

Dera Ghazi Khan YDA chairperson Anjum Baloch said the provincial government had devised a strategy that would make doctors subordinate to bureaucrats. “We do not accept this policy. The future of more than 400 doctors in our district is at stake because of this,” Baloch said.

He said they would present a future course of action in this regard at the upcoming YDA-Punjab general council meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2016.