Law enforcers beat up protesting JPMC doctors

Doctors organise protest against hospital management.

KARACHI:

The doctors at Jinnah hospital organised a protest on Tuesday to protest against the hospital management, which they claim must be transferred to the province.

The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) doctors’ association insisted that the administration should be handed over to the provincial government following the 18th Amendment.

“Today, the law enforcement agencies became violent even though we were staging a peaceful demonstration,” said Dr Javaid Jamali, the president of the doctors’ association. “Our two companions were severely injured,” he told The Express Tribune. “One of them has been admitted to the intensive care unit.”

According to Dr Javaid, the police had arrested two doctors but they were released later. He insisted that their problems were genuine. “Two wards of the JPMC have been closed as new doctors haven’t been appointed,” he said.

The doctors also demanded immediate suspension of two directors, Dr Tasneem Ahsan and Dr Seemin Jamali, from their posts.

Two patients died while the doctors boycotted the out-patients department while 10 operations had to be postponed. The attendants gathered at the emergency ward blamed the doctors for the deaths.

The protest began at 8am, when the doctors boycotted the out-patients department and the emergency ward. A large number of Rangers reached the hospital and cordoned off the area where the doctors were gathered.



A few minutes later, the situation became violent as the law enforcement personnel beat up a few protesters. This further aggravated the doctors who relocated to the directors’ office. They stayed inside for a long time and kicked out all remaining employees. Some doctors even scribbled their demands on the walls of the administration office.

‘Federal is better’

Meanwhile, the hospital management insisted that they prefer staying with the federal government despite the devolution. Talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Seemin Jamali condemned the protest. “They were using non parliamentary language against us.”

The protesters should approach the courts instead of using abusive language, she added. Dr Seemin pointed out the protesters were threatening the directors of dire consequences. For the association’s president, she said, “Dr Javaid is just a medical officer while we have been serving our patients for the past 25 years.”

PMA supports devolution

Pakistan Medical Association Sindh president Dr Samrina Hashmi condemned the attack on the doctors by the law enforcers, but she said that the hospital should be handed over to the provincial government. The problems these doctors are facing are similar to those faced by their colleagues in all devolved institutions, she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2013.