Doctors’ strike: Federal hospitals blowing hot and cold

Conflicting viewpoints between the permanent and temporary staff.

ISLAMABAD:

Young Doctors Association (YDA) of five federal hospitals on Tuesday called off their strike till May 25. Federal Secretary Health and Cabinet, Nargis Sethi, gave assurances to fulfil their demands regarding flaws in the newly proposed service structure.

The new service structure was issued by the prime minister on May 3 and got mixed reactions. It was highly appreciated by the YDA Pakistan Institute of Medical sciences (Pims) but strongly condemned by YDA Polyclinic Hospital, National Institute For Rehabilitation & Medication Islamabad, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Federal Hospital Quetta, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi and Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore. The five institutions demanded the Ministry of Health to make amendments as there was a lot of ambiguity in the newly proposed service structure. Since their request remained unanswered, they called a strike on May 9 and paralyzed all services in outpatient departments.

Meanwhile, YDAs of federal hospitals seem to be segregating. Pims did not support the rest, neither did it observe the strike. However, sources said a meeting was held in the hospital on Tuesday, attended by the permanent staff. They strongly condemned the new service structure and decided to demand Ministry of Health to revert its’ decision. They claimed that it failed to provide job security and benefits to the staff who had been in service for more than 25 years. They said that the new service structure was only appreciated by the postgraduate trainees and house officers who are not the permanent staff of the hospital. Therefore, in the meeting it was decided that they would also go on strike like the other five hospitals to press for their demands.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2011.