Patients search for doctors willing to treat them at DHQ. PHOTO: WASEEM NAZIR
Doctors had gone on a total strike after Young Doctors Association (YDA) members in Lahore were baton-charged and arrested for trying to protest at the launch of the Metro Bus Service in Lahore.
Doctors in Rawalpindi did not serve in outpatient departments or attend to any inpatients at HFH, Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) or District Headquarter Hospital following the incident in Lahore.
BBH YDA President Dr Umer Saeed said doctors went on strike after they learnt their colleagues were beaten and arrested in Lahore. He said doctors on duty went home after getting wind of the incident and that YDA representatives would work out their strategy on Monday evening (today).
According to him, the peacefully protesting doctors were on hunger strike in Lahore only to demand the provision of free medicine for poor patients at public hospitals.
The YDA representative said they plan further protests if the Punjab government does not reinstate over 400 doctors who were fired for various infractions.
Earlier, a Punjab government spokesperson claimed many such doctors were working abroad while drawing salaries from the provincial government.
The recent wave of protests by YDA Punjab began after seven doctors were arrested for roughing up the medical superintendent of Gujranwala District Headquarters Hospital over a month ago. The association has demanded the release of the doctors and the cancellation of subsequent transfer and termination orders.
According to details, the protesting doctors in Lahore tried to breach the high security arrangement around the inauguration venue of Metro Bus Project to get close to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. The baton-charge reportedly began after the doctors began pelting stones at the police, allegedly after being provoked to do so by a senior figure from the provincial opposition.
Additional input from Vaqas Asghar
Published in The Express Tribune, February 11th, 2013.
COMMENTS (3)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
These buffoons not only have no ethics and perhaps know little medicine but they also have no common sense or economic sense, Can someone please understand that in a country of 800,000 tax payers it is impossible to give free medicines to anyone, poor or otherwise, Lets adopt the Scandinavian 70 % tax rate for about 50 million taxpayers and then the YDA can have its pipe dreams come real,
Don't over-sensationalize the issue more than it already is. Emergency is still functional and nobody is being denied urgent care. I wonder what was so wrong with peacefully protesting at the launch of Metro Bus. Can't you show even a a little respect for the doctor's democratic right of protest. And like it or not, no professional will want to work in a workplace where police keeps raiding, harassing and arresting the doctors. Ab tau jhoota shor machana band kro. Ab tau saray non-violent mode of protest adopay thay doctors ne. Kabhi tasalli nai hogi tanqeed barayay tanqeed walay logon ki.
Here's what a respected International journal had to say about the situations like these.
[1]: http:// journal. nzma. org. nz/journal/119-1236/2037/