YDA strike: Health ministry orders action against protesting medics

Urges hospital admin to resolve the matter, take steps so that strikes do not impact patients

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Ministry has taken serious notice of protest by young doctors interrupting healthcare being provided to patients at the Lady Reading (LR) and Ayub Teaching Hospitals (ATH) in the province.

According to a notice issued by the health ministry, LRH and ATH directing them to take steps to ensure that the issue is not repeated.

“The senior minister for health has directed that immediate measures be taken so that patient care does not suffer,” the notification signed by Senior Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai read.

It warned that action should be taken against all those disrupting the healthcare system. Further, the notice said that the ministry had gone out of its way, administratively and financially, towards solving the issues of doctors.

The minister, in the notice, further directed the hospital management to take up the issue with the board of governors and also send a daily situation report to the health ministry.

The ministry directed the ATH’s administration that its board of governors should take adequate steps to address the situation, including by holding talks with the doctors so that the situation could be normalised and that patients do not have to suffer anymore.

The notification was issued after members of the Young Doctors Association (YDA) boycotted duties at major urban hospitals in the province last week.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2017.