Doctors proceed on three-day strike

YDA Punjab starts a three-day complete strike at all public hospital wards across the province.

LAHORE:

Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) Punjab, on Friday, started a three-day complete strike at all public hospital wards across the province except for emergency services after 144 doctors were issued notices by their medical superintendents (MS) for being involved in ‘illegal activities’ compromising professional ethics and ‘behaviour unbecoming of a doctor’.

The operation theatres, out-patient departments and indoor wards were empty at Services Hospital with very few doctors on duty. Officials said some senior doctors were also absent and work had ground to a standstill. Although many young doctors were on strike, the emergency services remained operational.

Dr Mehboob, a resident at Services Hospital, said he had been issued a notice but could not take it seriously. The doctor said many of his colleagues had been invigorated by the notices.

“Our families are supporting us. The government is trying to humiliate us but it just won’t work.” Doctors, he said, cannot be replaced like some bureaucrats. The terminations will lead to a shortage.

A senior registrar at Service Hospital said the strike was straining the hospital administration as doctors were not being replaced. Senior doctors, he said, understood the situation.

YDA Punjab official Dr Usman Ayub said the notices had been issued by the MSs under pressure from the Health Department. He said that this was a pressure tactic. “The longest strike conducted by doctors in the past was 21-days. We, now, are on day 18,” said Dr Usman.

YDA Punjab president Dr Hamid Butt told The Express Tribune if the hospitals withdrew their notices, the YDA would ease the strike.

Parliamentary Health Secretary, Dr Saeed Elahi, told The Tribune that the government was watching the developments and would continue to be patient and restrained. He said in principle the government had agreed that the doctors deserved raises but there were simply no funds at the moment. He added that the government had decided that July 1 was the earliest when it could allocate funds for wage reviews.

Elahi also said that the government had not played any role in the issuance of the warning notices and termination letters. He said that the college principals, hospital MSs and the health secretary had met thrice and the administrators had made certain recommendations. He said that the health secretary had told them that they were allowed to issue suspension notices at their discretion.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2011.