K-P govt invites protesting YDA members for talks

Young doctors mull calling off their strike after being asked to provide written list of issues

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government is set to engage the protesting members of Young Doctor’s Association (YDA) in a dialogue, reportedly after being told to do so by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

Following the announcement, the YDA may call off its strike at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH).

In a letter written to the Dr Gulab Noor Afridi, president of YDA’s K-P chapter, the health department’s Deputy Secretary Administrator Zubair Ahmed said that “I am under directions of the senior minister for health to communicate [a] desire of government to a dialogue to resolve issues put forth by the Young Doctor’s Association in various fora in public interest to ensure continued patient care at all levels of the health system.”

The government has asked YDA to provide a written statement listing out the issues which need to be resolved and their plausible solutions and that the list should be “exhaustive and final” so that fresh things are not added after talks are initiated.

The government further said that they would form a committee which would include representatives from YDA and other major associations of doctors.

Moreover, the government would examine the issues identified by YDA and pour over the plausible solutions.

Promising to complete work on resolving the issues within 10 days, the government asked YDA to call off its strike as a measure of “good faith”.

Reacting to the letter, YDA members stating that the PTI chairman probably Imran knew about their protests but was being ‘misguided’ by some, adding with the media reporting on the strike for around a month, Imran must have realised that the doctors needed to be negotiated with.

The YDA held a meeting of its members to deliberate over the letter and on whether to call off its strike call at the KTH.

YDA members had taken to the streets last month, demanding compensation for their deceased colleagues, restoring Post Graduate Medical Institutions, setting up endowment funds for trainee medical officers and house officers, enhancing security for doctors, time-scale promotions, and accommodation for doctors.

During its month-long protest, the government in its initial talks with the doctors accepted over 70 per cent of their demands. The strike ended in a clash between doctors and police at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) earlier this month where many doctors were injured while a number were arrested.

Nod from abroad?

The clearly astonished YDA chief, meanwhile said that the invitation for talks ‘clearly suggests the government wanted things in a written form so that it could be communicated to Dr Nowsherwan Barki since the government could not take even a single step without Dr Barki’s approval’.

“We do not have any issues with public servants, but public representatives, and we know Dr Barki’s approval is a must, even for talks with the YDA,” YDA Patron-In-chief Dr Alamgir Yousafzai told The Express Tribune. He added that chances of YDA calling off their strikes for talks to proceed were high.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2017.