LAHORE: The Young Doctors Association (YDA) did not call off its strike on Thursday despite a statement made by the Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday night claiming that doctors would return to their duties at emergencies, indoor and out-patient departments at all hospitals.
Though the situation in hospitals has improved, the deadlock between the Punjab government and YDA remains intact. Resuming their duties at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) Lahore, PIC Faisalabad and PIC Multan, the doctors however limited their services to emergency wards only.
Indoor and out-patient departments in hospitals remained open on Thursday but the doctors available there were short in number. A senior doctor while commenting said that the situation despite the hurdles has shown improvement.
Talking to The Express Tribune, General council member YDA Dr Mudassir Razzaq Khan said that the YDA had indeed resumed its duties at some hospitals but added that their services were available only in the emergency wards. He confirmed that the strike by the YDA is still in progress, adding that it will continue till their demands regarding the service structure is accepted by the Punjab government.
Dr Khan further demanded that the government withdraw all cases against doctors as well as releasing and dropping all charges against four, out of the seven doctors, who were arrested.
Speaking at a press conference held at the PIC Lahore, YDA member Dr Zeeshan said that despite the fact that all YDA members of PIC had been freed by the Punjab government, this was not "enough" and that "all doctors detained by the Punjab government should be immediately set free."
However, a health department spokesperson said that after the recent crisis, the situation was moving towards "normalcy." He urged all the doctors to return to hospitals and resume their duties.
The Punjab law minister had claimed on Wednesday that the YDA had called off its strike after a meeting, which was held with senior doctors. Sanaullah had claimed that an agreement had been reached according to which the senior doctors had assured the government that the YDA will resume its duties after the release of all detained doctors and dropping of all charges against them .
COMMENTS (8)
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Unfortunately, this is whole fiasco is the Pakistani way of doing things. Both YDA and the Punjab government are bulls with locked horns and the poorer patients are getting gored by these horns. I understand what the YDA wants but I think it was quite unfair to close emergencies. That being said, the Punjab government also retaliated in a very totalitarian manner showing that Shahbaz Shareef really doesn't place himself in others' shoes as he claims. It's good to see that the strike is over but I hope that something comes out of all this. I think that YDA did not play its cards correctly, and was a bit too hasty. If it had taken things more slowly and made its demands more manageable, I'm sure that it wouldn't have alienated the media the way it did.
very right zaheer sb,as a wife of a doctor,we r facing all these problm u write about,punjab gov is not Razaaq,Allah gives every one,keep struggling for truth n ur rights,doctors r not Annarkali that punjb gov set them in a wall.they r the cream of nation,the heart of nation,how can they live without heart.
usman malik ... its very easy to talk about something you are not into. But its not your fault , its what been shown to you on media. tell you the truth doctors and there families living a life worst then a bagger.They dont have enough money to feed their kids pay the bills and rent and gas . And with all that they have to give fee of their own specializations and so on.... so its not fair to say things without knowing the exact situations. My suggestion is to all doctors is leave this country and you will do better even after washing dishes in Europe or go to KSA they will respect your talent and pay you well
@Usman Malik: good joke no need to cancel degrees they already not on work so u bring new talented drs
@mani:
Its is due to pseudo-literate people like @usman that our country is far behind others as these people fail to grasp the root cause of problems and base their decisions (hence their votes) based on their false perceptions
The service structure was in place as is at the time doctors hunting for jobs, at the time of hiring, this is not something which has been called off but a demand of new structure as per wishes, even if these are genioun this is not at all the way to express the demands, one cannt simply go on strike if things are not accroding to the wishes because this is what accepted by these so called Dr. at the time of hiring,
@Usman Malik The real issue should be looked into. The demand for service structure is genuine one. The Punjab Govt should handle this issue on priority and should not try to suppress the YDA's voice with power. CM Punjab is himself protesting against unjust load shedding in Punjab against the Federal Govt, so why he is not listening to the protesting doctors. In my opinion, Punjab Govt is responsible for all this chaos.
Just cancel the degrees of these so-called doctors who find playing with lives of innocent and above all poor citizens JUST.
They already get paid more than any other profession in that much short time, Government spends a generous amount of money on their education and finally they get too much undeserving respect for the masses - if they still want more then perhaps they should resign from the Government jobs and work for Private sector, or better leave Pakistan for Greener pastures. I have seen too many of them driving taxi in UK and Canada anyway.