Full day strike: In govt vs doctors, patients suffer

OPDs at PIMS remain closed as doctors push harder for their demands.

ISLAMABAD:

Outpatient departments (OPDs) at the biggest public hospital in Islamabad were paralysed on Saturday following a complete strike by doctors demanding increased wages and better service structure.

Members of Young Doctors Association (YDA) at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) observed a full day strike, paralysing medical services at the institute’s burn centre, mother and child centre, Children’s Hospital and general OPDs.

More than 500 doctors including postgraduate residents, house officers, medical officers and senior faculty members gathered in front of the administration block at 8am and raised slogans against the executive director (ED) of Pims and the federal health secretary.

They lamented the “disinterest shown by the high-ups” in resolving their issues. They are demanding increased wages, change in service structure and regularisation of doctors who are on contract. They threatened to lock the ED’s office if his attitude did not change.

Doctors across Punjab and Islamabad are asking for revised service structures and higher wages. They are asking for a salary of Rs35,000 for house officers, Rs80,000 for postgraduate trainee doctors, Rs120,000 for senior registrars, Rs200,000 for assistant professors and Rs300,000 for professors.

Regular operations were also interrupted and only emergency surgeries were performed at the hospital. According to hospital sources, around 5,000 patients suffered due to the closure of OPDs. The pathology department performed just one-third of tests they usually perform in a day.

An official from the hospital said that due to the strike, the number of ultrasounds conducted came down to 20 and X-rays were reduced to 125 from 400 daily.

A group of doctors outside the administration block said they are overworked and underpaid.

They said there is a dire need to implement a proper patient check-in procedure and limit the number of patients assigned to a doctor. “This will help doctors give proper attention to patients,” one doctor said.

Another doctor representing YDA, added, “A policeman earns more than a doctor who has been working for over 20 years.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2011.