The whole matter should have been dealt with months ago when the YDA agreed on a deal with the Punjab government. The organisation now claims that the terms were not adhered to. The Pakistan Medical Association has backed the young doctors’ demands, but not their methods, stating that it could have been possible to handle the whole issue with more finesse.
A wider view and a broader vision are required to resolve the dispute. The YDA has made its mistakes and seriously sick patients have suffered as a result. But the matter cannot simply be treated as a disciplinary offence, as the Punjab government is doing. The brain drain of doctors in the country is a very serious issue and we need to figure out a way to retain their services. It is also true, as is the case around the world, that it is young doctors who basically keep hospitals performing optimally, handling the bulk of the work. Most in the medical profession agree that junior doctors are badly underpaid. The methods they used to negotiate this injustice may be questionable, but the Punjab government can hardly claim to have handled the matter any better. As a result, a crisis that should have been solved a long time ago lingers on and threatens to assume increasingly ominous dimensions as the bitterness grows.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2012.
COMMENTS (17)
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Dear N.A
"I think the best solution for these poor doctors is given by you."....... Thousands of doctors left for Saudi arabia for same poor job structure reason....rest should go to Europe.I cannot understand that why better future and respectable lifestyle Efforts of doctors pinches the so called stake holders....??
Europe is in need of these doctors, so they should all leave Pakistan and join our healthcare system. These patients can be treated by the politicians in Pakistan.
@ Amjad Hussain
oh please mr amjad hussain where were you when the doctors were polite and no one listened them. why didnt you come forward at that time and fought for the doctors rights? doctors were forced by non serious attitude from all of you to protest in this way. THE REASON WHY THE CIVIL SOCIETY DIDNT COME FORWARD IN PAST IS THAT THEY ARE NOT DOCTORS, THEY DONT CARE FOR THEM THEY DONT CARE FOR ANY1 EXCEPT THEMSELVES.
where were you all for the last 1.25 year. you should check the social networks its happening for more than 1 year. as far as mass media is concerned the doctors are not financially so sound that they can advertise(false) like punjab govt.
http://dawn.com/2012/07/03/mission-old-doctors-young/
young doctors closed the opd's in hospitals they were working in emergency. icus ccu etc. what made them to close all the other services was the arrests made by the punjab police. when the arrests were made the doctors could not work in hospitals because some of them were afraid that they will also be arrested and some in anger so they all went away from the hospital. your own safety comes first, thats why punjab govt is responsible for the deaths of 19 patients (in media 11) till july 02. 1 thing you should note that before the incident (arrests) inn 14 days not a single patient died but after that what happened you all know. if some1 else from civil society came fwd in past to raise voice for doctors this would have not happened but noone came including media despite the press confrence, and now every1 is calling the doctors zalim. is raising your voice for your rights is zulm?
The doctor's strike is highly objectionable and a state of shame for them(doctors) who consider themselves the very sophisticated and educated class of our society. They have proved that they are no more different from the illiterate and ignorant class.they have many other types of means of protesting like mass media and social networks where they can bring a polite and harmless campaign against the govt and can approve their legal demands but the way they behaved was totally an inhuman act and was totally against the humble profession of medicine.
At the moment things have mix up, now its a same thing to revise structure or raise in Pays, because Revised structure mean Govt. have to pay billion of Rupees. YDA has list of Demands which crosses fifty points so its not a matter of Structure Revise only. Secondly if for a moment we consider their demand is it in any way a right decision to go on strike for Fourteen days. Punjab govt.have bubbled their salaries last year they are getting 40% more salaries than other three provinces.They should have to be calm for for their demands.
Since the birth of Pakistan there is proper service structure doctors & paramedics in public hospitals, like Management Cadre, Education department etc. Sometimes the Doctors have to wait for 18 years to promote into the next grade. The only demand from doctors is "Service Structure of Promotion into the Next grade & their job description" which is not there till now. So What's Wrong With This Genuine Demand....????
we are with you punjab govt, at any cost please don't give them payrise, it is our tax payer's money, doctors earn milions but they never paid a single penny in taxes, all their education was paid by tax payers like us of the country. its high time they should be dealt strictly .
In the future, there should strict screening to ensure that such characters like the young doctors protesting are not accepted and given a subsidized government education. They have no idea of how senseless their acts are and I support the government in not giving in to these blackmailers.
same happened last year, 25 died as a result...
All these so called young doctors should be arrested and put behind bars. Their leaders look more like street thugs than doctors. They are degrading the noble profession of medicine. If they dont like their pay and conditions, why dont they leave their jobs??? Whats stopping them?? Not only does each doctor get around Rs. 50,000 per month salary, they all have private practice in the evenings. Hospitals should be declared Essential Services by the Government so that no one dares to go on strike again.
The medical profession is (was) a noble one due to the fact that they work for the betterment and welfare of the people not known to them.The punjab government's anti doctors policies,which is well known to the community has taken all the stake holders to the point that it is technically not possible to do justice to any one.Losers are the patients.i cannot understand why government is so reluctant in revising the service structure when they are also sure of this thing that they will be not the one who will have to implement it,like our able federal government on the track that will lead to disaster for upcoming new government, who surely will face the music...."...
young docters are actually trainee doctors.they donot run clinics or do specialist practice. There is no question of looting at private clinics. They have to stay in the hospital round the clock as resident doctors.
We doctors don't have a media,neither we have millions of money to buy air time on media.The only medium we have is our contact list. . . So here r the facts; our strike was peacefull & all the patients were being entertained in emrgencies until last night when this 'democratic govt' captured dr's and brutally tortured them. Dr naeem critically sick and is on ventilator. Dr bandesha ...severly cooped and is in emergency. around 350 dr's are in harrasment in jail. Lady dr's were forced to leave the hostels at 2:00 AM at night. . . who will give the services under these conditions??? BUT OUR CORRUPT MEDIA IS NOT SHOWING THIS.u people r our hope.
Please make a correction...Doctors are NOT demanding a "better pay packages"...
Doctors are demanding "a revised service structure"...
Another example of how our rulers bungle simple issues that only require sincerity and the right approach. All of YDA demands are reasonable and they are justified in seeking better employment conditions. Had the Government behaved maturely and dealt with these young doctors respectfully, the issue would have been resolved by now. YDA would have accepted small immediate measures as part of a long term, comprehensive plan, enabling the government to distribute the financial burden over several years. Instead, the government chose to employ dirty tricks and coercion, and its shenanigans will be paid for by the poor people of the province.
And someone should ask these politicians chanting the mantra of medicine being a "sacred profession" and reminding doctors of their "oath", what have they done to the profession of Prophets, and the oaths of office they took?
As for misery of the patients, what you see on the TV is what you'd see on any given day in a government hospital, strike or no strike. It has little to do with doctors' absence in the OPD, rather, the mismanagment and corruption rampant among the hospital administration and managment. Young doctors (medical and house oficers) had only walked out of OPDs (where technically every patient should be seen by a consultant anyway after an initial examination by a medical officer or trainee), still serving in the wards and the ER. The real misery will only begin now since the wards and the ER will also be affected after this ill-conceived police action.