Doctors vs govt: YDA announces protest, govt sees no reason for it
LHC returns YDA harassment petition, suggests contempt plea instead.
"Doctors will stage protests on Thursday morning if cases are not registered regarding alleged assaults on young doctors in Gujranwala," says YDA Punjab president. PHOTO :FILE
LAHORE:
The Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab and the provincial government continued to take shots at each other over the Gujranwala incident on Wednesday, though both sides have stepped back from more drastic action.
The YDA Punjab president told reporters that doctors would stage protests on Thursday morning if cases were not registered regarding alleged assaults on young doctors in Gujranwala.
Meanwhile, Khawaja Salman Rafique, the special assistant to the chief minister on health, vowed that the Health Department would take action against doctors who boycotted their jobs.
The YDA Punjab called a strike last Wednesday after around a dozen doctors were arrested for roughing up the medical superintendent of Gujranwala District Headquarters Hospital and vandalising his office. The ugly scenes were caught on camera and brought widespread condemnation for the association. It called off the strike after a day.
The Health Department was reportedly planning to transfer dozens of YDA members out of Lahore to rural areas as punishment for its strike action, though the reports remained unconfirmed.
YDA Punjab President Dr Javaid Aheer said in a press conference at Services Hospital that the doctors would protest at public hospitals at 10am if no cases were registered against “those who tortured doctors” in Gujranwala. He said that false accusations were being made against the arrested doctors. The YDA is continuing negotiations with the government, he said, “but they are trying to push doctors to the wall”.
Dr Aheer said that the YDA would move the courts against the “victimisation and transfers” of doctors. The Lahore High Court later returned a petition moved in this regard as non-maintainable and asked the YDA to file it again with revisions.
Service structure progress
Rafique, in a briefing to the press, said that the Punjab government had implemented close to half the points in the service structure agreement and was working on the rest, “so the repeated protest calls by young doctors in this regard are beyond my understanding”.
A committee set up by the chief minister that included Senator Ishaq Dar and representatives of the YDA and other medical associations had negotiated the service structure agreement last November after several months of discussions amidst doctors’ strikes at government hospitals.
Rafique said that doctors’ groups had agreed as part of the deal never to go on strike again, but months after signing it they had resorted to violence in Gujranwala and withdrawn their services again.
He said that the Health Department had taken action against 17 doctors, including those involved in the Gujranwala violence. “No one will be allowed to create any hurdle in providing medical care to patients and resorting to strikes in hospitals. Strict legal action will be taken against them,” he said.
Regarding the points implemented in the service structure deal, Rafique said that dental surgeons had been included in the specialist cadre and were being given a Rs4,000 special monthly allowance for grades 17 and 18, and Rs6,000 for grade 19. A new induction formula had been put in place and the emoluments of postgraduate trainee doctors increased. Approval had been granted for promoting medical officers to the teaching cadre, while lists of FRCS and FCPS doctors to be promoted to senior registrars had been prepared. Thousands of doctors had been promoted through the creation of new posts, he added.
Special Health Secretary Babar Hayat Tarar said that as part of the service structure deal, six meetings a year would be held for the promotion of doctors. Approval had been granted for paid seats of house officers, he said. A group of senior professors had been set up to resolve the issue of doctors from the private sector without the required work experience being inducted to senior positions in the public sector.
High Court
Also on Wednesday, Justice Ijazul Ahsan of the Lahore High Court upheld the registrar’s office’s objection to a protection from harassment petition filed by the YDA Punjab against the provincial government and suggested the petitioner to file a contempt of court plea instead.
The petition stated that the Punjab government was victimising young doctors by removing and suspending them and transferring them to remote areas. It said that the government, despite clear directions from the LHC, had yet to implement the service structure agreement. It asked the court to stop the government from harassing the young doctors.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2013.
The Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab and the provincial government continued to take shots at each other over the Gujranwala incident on Wednesday, though both sides have stepped back from more drastic action.
The YDA Punjab president told reporters that doctors would stage protests on Thursday morning if cases were not registered regarding alleged assaults on young doctors in Gujranwala.
Meanwhile, Khawaja Salman Rafique, the special assistant to the chief minister on health, vowed that the Health Department would take action against doctors who boycotted their jobs.
The YDA Punjab called a strike last Wednesday after around a dozen doctors were arrested for roughing up the medical superintendent of Gujranwala District Headquarters Hospital and vandalising his office. The ugly scenes were caught on camera and brought widespread condemnation for the association. It called off the strike after a day.
The Health Department was reportedly planning to transfer dozens of YDA members out of Lahore to rural areas as punishment for its strike action, though the reports remained unconfirmed.
YDA Punjab President Dr Javaid Aheer said in a press conference at Services Hospital that the doctors would protest at public hospitals at 10am if no cases were registered against “those who tortured doctors” in Gujranwala. He said that false accusations were being made against the arrested doctors. The YDA is continuing negotiations with the government, he said, “but they are trying to push doctors to the wall”.
Dr Aheer said that the YDA would move the courts against the “victimisation and transfers” of doctors. The Lahore High Court later returned a petition moved in this regard as non-maintainable and asked the YDA to file it again with revisions.
Service structure progress
Rafique, in a briefing to the press, said that the Punjab government had implemented close to half the points in the service structure agreement and was working on the rest, “so the repeated protest calls by young doctors in this regard are beyond my understanding”.
A committee set up by the chief minister that included Senator Ishaq Dar and representatives of the YDA and other medical associations had negotiated the service structure agreement last November after several months of discussions amidst doctors’ strikes at government hospitals.
Rafique said that doctors’ groups had agreed as part of the deal never to go on strike again, but months after signing it they had resorted to violence in Gujranwala and withdrawn their services again.
He said that the Health Department had taken action against 17 doctors, including those involved in the Gujranwala violence. “No one will be allowed to create any hurdle in providing medical care to patients and resorting to strikes in hospitals. Strict legal action will be taken against them,” he said.
Regarding the points implemented in the service structure deal, Rafique said that dental surgeons had been included in the specialist cadre and were being given a Rs4,000 special monthly allowance for grades 17 and 18, and Rs6,000 for grade 19. A new induction formula had been put in place and the emoluments of postgraduate trainee doctors increased. Approval had been granted for promoting medical officers to the teaching cadre, while lists of FRCS and FCPS doctors to be promoted to senior registrars had been prepared. Thousands of doctors had been promoted through the creation of new posts, he added.
Special Health Secretary Babar Hayat Tarar said that as part of the service structure deal, six meetings a year would be held for the promotion of doctors. Approval had been granted for paid seats of house officers, he said. A group of senior professors had been set up to resolve the issue of doctors from the private sector without the required work experience being inducted to senior positions in the public sector.
High Court
Also on Wednesday, Justice Ijazul Ahsan of the Lahore High Court upheld the registrar’s office’s objection to a protection from harassment petition filed by the YDA Punjab against the provincial government and suggested the petitioner to file a contempt of court plea instead.
The petition stated that the Punjab government was victimising young doctors by removing and suspending them and transferring them to remote areas. It said that the government, despite clear directions from the LHC, had yet to implement the service structure agreement. It asked the court to stop the government from harassing the young doctors.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2013.