OPDs shut as Young Doctors Association calls strike

LAHORE: The Young Doctors Association (YDA) has launched a strike against the new Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) Reform Act, which they believed was a step toward ending the public status of government hospitals.

The OPDs in the provincial capital, as well as other major cities, remained closed due to the YDA strike. Patients suffered a lot due to the closure of the OPDs. The patients who came to the provincial capital from other cities suffered the most and condemned the YDA strike.

YDA started a province-wide strike against the privatisation of public hospitals and the implementation of the MTI Act. The call for a strike was given by the YDA Lahore chapter and OPDs in other major cities of the province were also closed. A spokesman for the YDA said all big hospitals, including Mayo, Services, Jinnah and Sheikh Zayed Hospital were affected.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2019.