Service Structure: YDA announces protests on September 13
Association not prepared to give up right to protest for more changes.
LAHORE:
The Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab has decided to press ahead with protests after it was unable to reach an agreement with the government on changes to the service structure for doctors.
The YDA is the biggest of several doctors’ groups that are in talks with the government on the service structure. The two sides had been reported to be close to an agreement earlier.
But at its General Council meeting at the Lahore General Hospital on Friday night, the YDA decided to block Jail Road in front of Services Hospital and Ferozepur Road in front of Children’s Hospital in protests on September 13.
The General Council also decided to call a “province-wide” sit-in on September 19, and hold a “long march” starting from cities all over the Punjab and culminating with a sit-in outside the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on a later date.
The government had wanted the YDA to give up its demands that doctors be inducted in grade 18, that they get time-scale promotions (guaranteed promotions after a certain period) and a raised Health Professional Allowance.
The YDA General Council decided not to compromise on these issues, said YDA members.
Dr Amir Bandesha of the YDA said that the government kept moving the goalposts at the negotiations. “Whenever there are signs that we are reaching a consensus, the government does something or the other to damage the talks,” he said.
Dr Bandesha said that the government was asking the YDA to promise that it would not hold protests at a later date on issues on which they reach agreement. “It’s better for us to keep fighting for our rights rather than accepting a few things and surrendering on our just demands,” he said.
He said that the government wanted all the issues resolved now, while the YDA was willing to put some issues on hold for a later date. “We are not demanding everything straight away. If they cannot give us everything they should make a commitment to give the rest later. For example, if they cannot give us induction in grade 18, we can get it from the next government. But we cannot sign our death warrants by promising that we will not raise a voice for our rights,” he said.
He said that he had submitted a draft about doctors’ promotions to the Health Department. “I proposed the promotion of medical officers with specialties to senior registrars. As per Pakistan Medical and Dental Council rules, there should be four senior registrars for every assistant professor. Currently, there are 780 assistant professors in Punjab and just 850 senior registrars, when there should be around 3,000,” he said.
Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) President Dr Tanveer Ashraf said that the doctors’ groups and the government had reached agreement on 90 per cent of the demands and the government should move forward on these.
A senior Health Department official said that the YDA kept changing its position in the talks with the government and was at fault for the delay in reaching an agreement.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2012.
The Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab has decided to press ahead with protests after it was unable to reach an agreement with the government on changes to the service structure for doctors.
The YDA is the biggest of several doctors’ groups that are in talks with the government on the service structure. The two sides had been reported to be close to an agreement earlier.
But at its General Council meeting at the Lahore General Hospital on Friday night, the YDA decided to block Jail Road in front of Services Hospital and Ferozepur Road in front of Children’s Hospital in protests on September 13.
The General Council also decided to call a “province-wide” sit-in on September 19, and hold a “long march” starting from cities all over the Punjab and culminating with a sit-in outside the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on a later date.
The government had wanted the YDA to give up its demands that doctors be inducted in grade 18, that they get time-scale promotions (guaranteed promotions after a certain period) and a raised Health Professional Allowance.
The YDA General Council decided not to compromise on these issues, said YDA members.
Dr Amir Bandesha of the YDA said that the government kept moving the goalposts at the negotiations. “Whenever there are signs that we are reaching a consensus, the government does something or the other to damage the talks,” he said.
Dr Bandesha said that the government was asking the YDA to promise that it would not hold protests at a later date on issues on which they reach agreement. “It’s better for us to keep fighting for our rights rather than accepting a few things and surrendering on our just demands,” he said.
He said that the government wanted all the issues resolved now, while the YDA was willing to put some issues on hold for a later date. “We are not demanding everything straight away. If they cannot give us everything they should make a commitment to give the rest later. For example, if they cannot give us induction in grade 18, we can get it from the next government. But we cannot sign our death warrants by promising that we will not raise a voice for our rights,” he said.
He said that he had submitted a draft about doctors’ promotions to the Health Department. “I proposed the promotion of medical officers with specialties to senior registrars. As per Pakistan Medical and Dental Council rules, there should be four senior registrars for every assistant professor. Currently, there are 780 assistant professors in Punjab and just 850 senior registrars, when there should be around 3,000,” he said.
Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) President Dr Tanveer Ashraf said that the doctors’ groups and the government had reached agreement on 90 per cent of the demands and the government should move forward on these.
A senior Health Department official said that the YDA kept changing its position in the talks with the government and was at fault for the delay in reaching an agreement.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2012.