K-P doctors take to the streets, adding to patients’ woes

Protest against hospital reforms, KTH board chief widens

PESHAWAR: The situation at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) grew tense on Tuesday when angry doctors and other staff started protesting outside the facility against the chairman of the hospital’s board. The hospital administration had to then call in the police to contain the situation.

Doctors and hospital staff who have been boycotting duties at the out-patient departments (OPD) of government-run hospitals for the past 43 days under the banner of the Grand Health Alliance (GHA), blocked the road in front of the hospital apart from protesting in the hospital's OPD on Tuesday morning at around 10am.

They marched from in front of the hospital and marched around it, blocking the main road in front of the University of Peshawar. They chanted slogans against the provincial government and demanded that the process of privatising government-run hospitals should be stopped immediately.

Owing to the protest, traffic on the road was choked and created a logjam on adjoining roads. The protest was held as per the GHA’s decision to protest every Tuesday outside hospitals and blocking main roads. The protest outside KTH on Tuesday, though, was also held against the arrival of KTH’s Board of Governors Chairman Dr Nausherwan Burki.

For the occasion, the hospital administration sought support from the police and a heavy contingent, complete with armoured vehicles, was deployed at the main gates of the hospital.

An armoured vehicle stands in front of the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar. PHOTOS: INP

As the protesters refused to budge, the hospital administration sought greater police support to force the doctors to move. However, the police intervention failed to fully move the protesters from the road.

Meanwhile, OPD patients were accommodated in the emergency department while work in most of the major wards and the indoor services have ground to a halt.

The doctors have announced to boycott ward visits every Friday and Saturday while they intend to stage a large protest outside the K-P Assembly on November 11.

Owing to the strike, patients visiting tertiary care hospitals from remote areas of the province have to turn back empty-handed and frustrated.

The government has so far failed to convince the doctors to return to duty. Instead, as many as 170 doctors have been issued show-cause notices.

Some have replied to the notices while Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the board and other senior officials of the health ministry to take action against problematic doctors by swiftly replacing them.

Dengue cases soar past 6,500

The number of people affected by the dengue virus has soared past 6,751 after 44 new cases were registered in the province on Tuesday.

The Dengue Response Unit said that on Monday, 10 new cases of dengue fever were registered in Peshawar, raising the total number of dengue patients in the city to 2,575.

The unit further said that in Charsadda, the total number of dengue patients has reached 68 after two new cases were reported there.

Moreover, as many as 90 dengue patients are currently receiving treatment in K-P hospitals, including 22 who were admitted on Tuesday. So far, some 6,665 patients have been discharged.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2019.