‘Bullying the ill’: YDA stops senior doctors from attending patients in OPDs
Force patients to crowd emergency departments for check-up.
RAWALPINDI:
In another first, the young doctors, who are on strike to press for revised salary structure, are now stopping patients to even get near the Out Patient Departments (OPDs).
Members of Young Doctors Association (YDA) on Thursday, it was learnt, stopped patients from visiting the Out Patient Department (OPD) at District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ). Senior doctors had been called to check the patients in the absence of younger ones, since the latter are already on strike.
Some patients visiting the DHQ complained of hindrances created by young doctors as they tried to collect paid slips to get examined at the OPD. “When I reached a counter to pay the fee for check-up at OPD some young doctors stopped the man from issuing the chit, doctors in the OPD do not examine patients without the slip,” said Mujtaba Shah, an elderly patient.
Young doctors have abandoned the OPDs and they are not allowing even senior doctors from examining patients, he added. The YDA has called a strike to press the Punjab government to notify a new service structure for them.
OPDs at DHQ, Holy Family Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital remained closed in the absence of doctors and patients.
YDA DHQ President Dr Abbas Malik, when contacted, denied that the doctors had stopped anyone fron issuing slips.
“We are fighting for a common cause for medical practitioners, both young and seniors,” said Dr Malik. He added no doctor was ready to attend OPD patients.
Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) Principal Prof. Dr Musaddaq Khan, on the other hand, confirmed that some young doctors on Thursday forced the administration of DHQ not to issue slips to patients.
He said the young doctors had forcibly closed down OPDs. The principal added that all patients visiting OPDs were directed to go to emergency departments for medical check-ups.
Taking into consideration, the worsening condition of patients at OPDs, Dr Khan said he hoped for a better outcome after provincial health authorities warned the protesting doctors.
President YDA Punjab Dr Haroon Khan, in a statement, said representatives of young doctors from all over the province would converge at Holy Family Hospital on Saturday to decide the future course of action if the Punjab government did not agree to their demand for a service structure.
He contradicted the claims of the Punjab health department regarding the higher salaries paid to medical practitioners as advertised in newspapers on Thursday.
He said the doctors had not been getting revised salaries as advertised in the print media and urged the authorities to take concrete steps to resolve the YDA’s demands.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2012.
In another first, the young doctors, who are on strike to press for revised salary structure, are now stopping patients to even get near the Out Patient Departments (OPDs).
Members of Young Doctors Association (YDA) on Thursday, it was learnt, stopped patients from visiting the Out Patient Department (OPD) at District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ). Senior doctors had been called to check the patients in the absence of younger ones, since the latter are already on strike.
Some patients visiting the DHQ complained of hindrances created by young doctors as they tried to collect paid slips to get examined at the OPD. “When I reached a counter to pay the fee for check-up at OPD some young doctors stopped the man from issuing the chit, doctors in the OPD do not examine patients without the slip,” said Mujtaba Shah, an elderly patient.
Young doctors have abandoned the OPDs and they are not allowing even senior doctors from examining patients, he added. The YDA has called a strike to press the Punjab government to notify a new service structure for them.
OPDs at DHQ, Holy Family Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital remained closed in the absence of doctors and patients.
YDA DHQ President Dr Abbas Malik, when contacted, denied that the doctors had stopped anyone fron issuing slips.
“We are fighting for a common cause for medical practitioners, both young and seniors,” said Dr Malik. He added no doctor was ready to attend OPD patients.
Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) Principal Prof. Dr Musaddaq Khan, on the other hand, confirmed that some young doctors on Thursday forced the administration of DHQ not to issue slips to patients.
He said the young doctors had forcibly closed down OPDs. The principal added that all patients visiting OPDs were directed to go to emergency departments for medical check-ups.
Taking into consideration, the worsening condition of patients at OPDs, Dr Khan said he hoped for a better outcome after provincial health authorities warned the protesting doctors.
President YDA Punjab Dr Haroon Khan, in a statement, said representatives of young doctors from all over the province would converge at Holy Family Hospital on Saturday to decide the future course of action if the Punjab government did not agree to their demand for a service structure.
He contradicted the claims of the Punjab health department regarding the higher salaries paid to medical practitioners as advertised in newspapers on Thursday.
He said the doctors had not been getting revised salaries as advertised in the print media and urged the authorities to take concrete steps to resolve the YDA’s demands.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2012.