PMA Sindh announces daily two-hour boycott in solidarity with Punjab YDA

PMA Sindh also warns that a province-wide movement will be launched if their grievances are not addressed.

HYDERABAD/KARACHI: Expressing solidarity with the young doctors of Punjab, the Pakistan Medical Association (Sindh) has announced to observe a token strike of two hours every day. They have also warned that a complete boycott and province-wide demonstrations would follow if the doctors’ issues were not addressed.

At a press conference on Wednesday, the PMA Sindh’s general secretary, Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi, alleged that the Punjab government was misleading the people and the media about the doctors’ demands. “Young doctors are not demanding an increment but implementation of the service structure formula for timely promotions,” he clarified.

"If the Punjab government doesn’t mend its ways then the doctors in Sindh will also take to the streets to express their solidarity.”

Jatoi asked for constituting a judicial commission for probing the ongoing situation in Punjab. "The government in Punjab or even in Sindh can't stifle our demands by means of incriminating us."

The PMA also condemned the FIRs registered against four doctors accused of being responsible for the death of patients. "If this is justified then the government should also book Rehman Malik and police officials for failing to stop the killings in Karachi," Dr Waseem Shaikh argued.

Meanwhile in Karachi, an emergency meeting was called at the PMA House by the PMA Central committee to condemn the arrest of Punjab doctors and raids made at their houses.

The association’s president, Prof. Dr Tipu Sultan, said that doctors in Punjab were fighting for their legitimate rights of service structures and promotions.

Dr Samrina Hashmi, the president of PMA Sindh, also lamented the stubborn behavior of the Punjab chief minister. She said that the doctors would have been flexible if the government releases all of their colleagues.

Around nine doctors are still being held in custody.

The PMA members appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari and the Punjab governor, Latif Khosa, to act immediately in defusing the situation and to alleviate the unrest and fear from the doctors’ community.