Abbottabad doctors’ strike enters third day

Medical practitioners demand withdrawal of professional tax


Zubair Ayub May 05, 2021
File photo of young doctors protesting.. PHOTO: INP/FILE

ABBOTABAD:

The doctors of the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Hospital Abbottabad continued with their strike on Tuesday for the third consecutive day, protesting against the levy of professional tax.

No allied health services except for emergency was provided at the hospital. The protesting doctors also staged a rally and threatened the government to expand their strike and block the main Karakoram Highway (KKH) if the health department did not take steps to meet their demands.

Addressing the protesters, PDA President Dr Moazzam Khan and others criticised the imposition of professional tax on doctors and said that the deduction has been made in contempt of court as the Peshawar High Court had issued a stay order.

Provincial Doctors Association President Dr Ameer Taj Khan has brought this issue to the notice of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa secretary of health as well. The protesting doctors contend that on the one hand, the provincial government is levying professional tax on a grade 20 officer at Rs5,000 but doctors are asked to pay Rs50,000 which shows the government’s double standards.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2021.

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