After five days: ATH doctors call off strike

Hospital administration agrees to build hostel for medics, shift them to residential blocks on the facility

ABBOTTABAD: After boycotting the Outpatient departments at the Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) for five days, doctors called off their strike on Saturday.

The move came after the hospital administration agreed to house doctors in hostels within the facility by mid-April and pay compensation to the family of a doctor who died in a private hostel.

“The Doctors Association has decided to end the strike after their demands were accepted by the authorities,” ATH’s spokesperson Amber Javed said in a statement.

The doctors had gone on strike on Tuesday, demanding that the hospital builds a hostel for them within the facility’s premises after two doctors died under mysterious circumstances while living in private hostels located outside. They had also demanded Rs 5 million in compensation for the family of Dr Faisal Ahmed, one of the two doctors who had died at a private hostel recently owing to gas leakage.

Further, they wanted a probe into the appointment of some senior officials at the hospital including the secretary of the Board of Governors, delays in making the gynaecology and children block functional and reduction in the number of seats for College of Dentistry

The announcement came two days after ATH’s Board of Governors Chairman Javed Pani held a meeting with representatives of the doctors.

According to the ATH statement, the hospital management had agreed to compensate Dr Ahmed’s family as per the demand of the doctors.

Moreover, the hospital conceded to building a new hostel for medics, with a foundation stone for the building to be laid in the next three weeks while the building will be constructed when the provincial government disburses funds for. Further, the management promised to shift all doctors living in private hostels within ATH’s premises by the middle of April, after renovations at the Paramedics hostel are complete.

In this regard, the hospital said that an oversight committee would be formed to look after institutional affairs of the facility. The committee would comprise members of the hospital’s board of governors and nominated doctors.

The Provincial Doctor’s Association’s (PDA) President Dr Amin Afridi confirmed that they had called off their strike after dialogue with the hospital’s administration.

He added that hospital’s administration had agreed to pay Rs3 million as compensation to Dr Ahmed’s family within two weeks together with laying the foundation stone of a hostel for doctors. Moreover, the hostel would be named after late Dr Ahmed.

However, the compensation amount is fewer than what doctors were previously demanding, indicating some negotiation on the matter had taken place.

Dr Afridi added that the hospital’s administration had also expressed their consent for launching an inquiry into Dr Ahmed’s death and how the building of a private hostel for doctors was rented.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2017.