Unusual protest: Sindh doctors say Shah unfit to become CM
Doctors protest outside the Karachi Press Club on Saturday.
This man pretending to be 90 years old demands the government consider him to become the next chief minister. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS
KARACHI:
The doctors in Sindh have a strong feeling that former chief minister, Qaim Ali Shah, is not fit to take up the position for the third time.
“We do not need an aged man as our chief minister” and “Please nominate healthy and potential candidate for this slot” were some of the slogans the crowd was shouting outside Karachi Press Club on Saturday afternoon. The crowd comprised mostly young doctors, most of whom were earlier affiliated with the Peoples Doctors Forum, a Pakistan Peoples Party medical wing.
More than four dozen male and female doctors continued their demo for about two hours in the scorching weather. They had also brought with them an old-man who was holding a banner claiming that he was 90 years old so he should be made the chief minister instead.
“After the age of 80 years, the overall working capacity of a person is reduced to 60 per cent,” said Dr Muhammad Ali Thallo, the president of Sindh Doctors Alliances, referring to medical research. The brain, heart pumping and kidney reduce their functions and neurons give up working properly, tumbling memory levels. “In this situation, how can they appoint an 88-year old man as CM for the third time.”
He demanded the government withdraw the decision, clarifying that they were not against Shah or were plotting revenge. “Since he has not delivered in the last five years, we are opposing his appointment,” said Dr Shahid Brohi, another participant. The association has prepared a document carrying signatures of 200 doctors who have declared Shah ‘unfit’ on medical grounds.
A doctor complained that the outgoing government failed to improve healthcare. “I live in Malir and there are no government hospitals - not even a single gynaecologist or female doctor - working at any basic health centre or dispensary over there,” she said. “Despite our best efforts, he [Shah] had no time to meet us in the last five years.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2013.
The doctors in Sindh have a strong feeling that former chief minister, Qaim Ali Shah, is not fit to take up the position for the third time.
“We do not need an aged man as our chief minister” and “Please nominate healthy and potential candidate for this slot” were some of the slogans the crowd was shouting outside Karachi Press Club on Saturday afternoon. The crowd comprised mostly young doctors, most of whom were earlier affiliated with the Peoples Doctors Forum, a Pakistan Peoples Party medical wing.
More than four dozen male and female doctors continued their demo for about two hours in the scorching weather. They had also brought with them an old-man who was holding a banner claiming that he was 90 years old so he should be made the chief minister instead.
“After the age of 80 years, the overall working capacity of a person is reduced to 60 per cent,” said Dr Muhammad Ali Thallo, the president of Sindh Doctors Alliances, referring to medical research. The brain, heart pumping and kidney reduce their functions and neurons give up working properly, tumbling memory levels. “In this situation, how can they appoint an 88-year old man as CM for the third time.”
He demanded the government withdraw the decision, clarifying that they were not against Shah or were plotting revenge. “Since he has not delivered in the last five years, we are opposing his appointment,” said Dr Shahid Brohi, another participant. The association has prepared a document carrying signatures of 200 doctors who have declared Shah ‘unfit’ on medical grounds.
A doctor complained that the outgoing government failed to improve healthcare. “I live in Malir and there are no government hospitals - not even a single gynaecologist or female doctor - working at any basic health centre or dispensary over there,” she said. “Despite our best efforts, he [Shah] had no time to meet us in the last five years.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2013.