YDA office bearers said their hunger strike had entered its 10th day but the Punjab government hadn’t paid any heed to their demands. PHOTO: NNI
Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) Punjab took out a rally on The Mall and staged a sit-in demonstration in front of the Governor’s House on Wednesday.
Members of Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf also joined the protesters.
YDA office bearers said their hunger strike had entered its 10th day but the Punjab government hadn’t paid any heed to their demands. They said they would continue to fight for the rights of poor patients.
Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique said that the government had fulfilled its promise of providing service structure for doctors and most of the agreed points had been implemented. He said committees had been formed for implementation of the remaining points. He said these committees were working hard
Rafique was presiding over a meeting which was reviewing the implementation on the agreement on the service structure at the Health Department Committee Room of the Civil Secretariat.
The meeting reviewed point-wise the implementation of service structure.
The participants noted that the clauses of service structure which needed immediate implementation had been implemented.
Rafique said that the committees which had been constituted for the implementation of the points of service structure had submitted their recommendations.
He said that the government was implementing the service structure approved for all cadres of doctors expeditiously.
General Cadre Doctors Association President Dr Masud Sheikh expressed his satisfaction with the Health Department’s efforts for implementing all points of service structure speedily. He said that it was the joint responsibility of doctors to ensure provision of medical facilities to the patients.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2013.
COMMENTS (17)
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YD are only demanding their rights and trying to improve the services for their patents, heavy handed they might be and frustrated with senior's who are just filling their own pockets hand in hand with politicians, with serious mismanagement, lack of functional equipment and hospital buildings breeding grounds for infections. look around you every thing is falling apart. Young doctors starting salary in UK is £22,000 year 1 (3344814 rupee) , 28,000 year 2 (4257036 rupee), learn to appreciate these doctor they deserve a fair pay. Uneducated good for nothing, politicians and administrators earn more then these doctors.
@Umair: I agree with you. I have one proposal. Make all these striking doctors construction workers (laborer). Let them move bricks up and down the house. Pay them Rs300 per day from Monday to Friday . Give them two days off to recover their energy and spend their time with family. Keep them on this new job for three months who knows they might like this new job or they might realize how common man lives.
1- If our health care system is so perfect then why do the middle class and upper class criticizing doctors here go to private clinics and hospitals?
2- Gujrawala incident- I think there were no more than 10 incidents of Young doctors misbehaving with the seniors or journalists. I have two questions to ask u about it. a- Can you put blame on "all" the young doctors for misbehaving with the seniors? b- How would you react if you get beaten by the Local Gangsters outside your hospitals just cz u told the Boss to clear the Rats, Cats and Bats from the wards?
3- How many of you have actually volunteered in the public hospitals and aware of the problems faced by the doctors and poor?
4- Why dont u ask your CM sb. to import Doctors from Turkey or Afghanistan to replace the 100-150 doctors on strike ?!
@Sterry: Opology must not be accepted. They are not kids. They must be treated like adults. They must be prosecuted in the court and their medical licenses permanently revoked. If I will be judge , I will give them fifty yrs solitary confinement with no chance of parole or till they die whichever come first.
The money spends on Doctors should be recovered from all the young doctorrs and removed from service as they are not fulfilling their duties to serve the poor. In future it should be made mandatory for doctors to take oath before inclusion in the service cadre that they will serve the under privileged areas for three years. Political Parties should stop favouring these selfish people.
@islooboy:yes i know .
@nobody: You obviously have delusional thinking; just because I disagree with teachers, doesn't mean I should stop sending my kids to school and just because I disagree with the blackmailing techniques and violence of Young Doctors doesn't mean I should go for health care with a health practitioner. What the so called young doctors don't have is decency, compassion, professionalism or a sense of ethics. We don't need the government to tell us this- we see their behaviour in our experience and on TV.
Most o people here are jelous freaks and just showing there frustation. Majority o them once had a dream o becoming a doctor and failed to do so and now spiting venom just 4 nothing. If u hate doctors so much then make a promise dat God forbifs if any o your relatives get sick in future dont take them to a doctor.
@Iram: do you remeber the thrashing by yda members ? doctor gardi murdabad
oh well sad to see the reaction of people about yda docs... either political or selfishness it doesnt matter.. their demands of good salaries are rite.. if the gov. stop spending on stupid schemes & have a courtesy to repair and maintain all the xray, MRI & cityscan machines then i guess it would be better and this is what these docs are saying... hospitals are in such a bad conditions and machines are not working... docs dont get good pay that is why they dont like to work ...
Thanks ET for Govts version and it would have been nice to learn the Doc's version i am sure it must be different. Giving them two lines and giving Govt 90% space tells you the story how Punjab Govt is trying to creat an opinion about these doctors....have some mercy on people docs are leaving in thousands every year this country so please do something to stop them.
Gov should NOT give into the demand of these ignorant so called Doc's....
The way Shahbaz is handling this issue is pathetic, who is responsible of hundred causalities? Being a head of the government he takes credit of every thing now why shouldn't take discredit? suspension, termination, reappointment's, is this the only solution with you Mr. Shahbaz? Health or education sectors are the most important sectors but astonished to see there is no one to look after these sectors full time as Shahbaz retained these ministries with him. In education your produced fake results and in health owing to mismanagement lead patients to death. Three cheers for you not two.
Doctors.... please get a life first before giving others.
The only solution to this madness is to introduce student loan system, there should not be any government subsidies on medical education because all these YD do is politics, a sense of responsibility to pay off student loan once they qualify will ensure more maturity and mature behaviour.
I hope these abusive young doctors continue their hunger strike until they have no energy to threaten people and attack people.
These young doctors are not fighting for the rights of poor patients ! - they are are selfishly fighting for more money and privilges for themselves. I saw the disgusting behaviour of these so called young doctors on TV when they attacked the MS of a hospital in Gujranwala. No one should listen to them until they apologize for being poorly behaved. I hope the provincial government does not give in to their blackmail. Take away their degrees because they should do a course on basic ethics first!