28th Session: Doctors to expand strike action
PMA demands withdrawal of murder FIR against Shaikh Zayed doctors.
LAHORE:
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Punjab chapter has warned that doctors will go on strike across the province in the next week unless a murder case against five doctors of Shaikh Zayed Hospital is withdrawn.
PMA officials told reporters after an emergency meeting of the provincial council that they would go on a two-hour strike on Wednesday and Thursday and a full strike on Friday. However, doctors in emergency wards and intensive care units and those looking after critical patients would not join the strike.
The PMA officials said that doctors at Shaikh Zayed Hospital had been on strike for the last 17 days and their demands had been ignored, so they were stepping up the protests.
Muslim Town police registered an FIR against the five doctors after a patient died and his father alleged medical negligence on their part. However, the case was registered under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code for murder.
The PMA and other doctors’ bodies say that under the Punjab Healthcare Commission Act of 2010, healthcare providers can only be prosecuted for medical negligence under provisions of the act, not by any other law. The PMA demanded that the policeman who had registered the first information report of the case under Section 302 be sacked.
The provincial council asked the administration of Shaikh Zayed Hospital to lodge an FIR against “the culprits who attacked the hospital and harassed the staff”. A committee was also formed to decide the PMA’s future line of action on the matter.
The meeting was chaired by Prof Ashraf Nizami and attended by representatives from 36 branches of the PMA Punjab, including Dr Tanveer Anwar and Dr Izhar Ahmed Chaudhry (Lahore), Dr Ghulam Shabbir (DG Khan), Dr Mian Mazhar Ahmed (Sahiwal), Dr Sikandar Warraich (Sargodha), Dr Gulzar Chaudhry (Gujranwala), Dr Tariq Niazi (Rawalpindi), Dr Shahnaz Imtiaz (Jehlum), Dr Javed Khalid (Vehari), Dr Naeem Akhter (Okara), Dr Mqbool Alam (Muzaffargarh), Dr Javed Haider Joiya (Burewala) and Dr Rao Tayyab (Bahawalnagar). Officials of the Young Doctors Association, Society of Surgeons, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan, and the Private Hospital Association at PMA House in Lahore.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2011.
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Punjab chapter has warned that doctors will go on strike across the province in the next week unless a murder case against five doctors of Shaikh Zayed Hospital is withdrawn.
PMA officials told reporters after an emergency meeting of the provincial council that they would go on a two-hour strike on Wednesday and Thursday and a full strike on Friday. However, doctors in emergency wards and intensive care units and those looking after critical patients would not join the strike.
The PMA officials said that doctors at Shaikh Zayed Hospital had been on strike for the last 17 days and their demands had been ignored, so they were stepping up the protests.
Muslim Town police registered an FIR against the five doctors after a patient died and his father alleged medical negligence on their part. However, the case was registered under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code for murder.
The PMA and other doctors’ bodies say that under the Punjab Healthcare Commission Act of 2010, healthcare providers can only be prosecuted for medical negligence under provisions of the act, not by any other law. The PMA demanded that the policeman who had registered the first information report of the case under Section 302 be sacked.
The provincial council asked the administration of Shaikh Zayed Hospital to lodge an FIR against “the culprits who attacked the hospital and harassed the staff”. A committee was also formed to decide the PMA’s future line of action on the matter.
The meeting was chaired by Prof Ashraf Nizami and attended by representatives from 36 branches of the PMA Punjab, including Dr Tanveer Anwar and Dr Izhar Ahmed Chaudhry (Lahore), Dr Ghulam Shabbir (DG Khan), Dr Mian Mazhar Ahmed (Sahiwal), Dr Sikandar Warraich (Sargodha), Dr Gulzar Chaudhry (Gujranwala), Dr Tariq Niazi (Rawalpindi), Dr Shahnaz Imtiaz (Jehlum), Dr Javed Khalid (Vehari), Dr Naeem Akhter (Okara), Dr Mqbool Alam (Muzaffargarh), Dr Javed Haider Joiya (Burewala) and Dr Rao Tayyab (Bahawalnagar). Officials of the Young Doctors Association, Society of Surgeons, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan, and the Private Hospital Association at PMA House in Lahore.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2011.