Voicing concerns: Doctors protest alleged maltreatment of colleague

A doctor at the JPMC’s emergency ward had been ill-treated by students on Saturday.

KARACHI: The Young Doctors Association’s (YDA) proposed to go on strike and attempted to close down the OPDs on Monday to protest the alleged maltreatment of a doctor at the emergency ward of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) by students of the School of Physiotherapy. The strike was, however, called off through the intervention of the administration of the OPDs, which were made functional within an hour.

Students of the School of Physiotherapy had allegedly misbehaved with Dr Abdul Ghaffar on Saturday. As the tussle between the students and doctors escalated, the administration called police and a few of the students were arrested.

“The issue was settled on Saturday,” confirmed the joint executive director and JPMC emergency ward in-charge Dr Seemin Jamali. “There was no reason now to go on strike or close down the OPDs. No one will be allowed to take the law in their hands,” she warned.

Dr Usman, the vice-chairperson of the Young Doctors Association, however contradicted Jamali’s statement, claiming that all OPDs had been closed, adding that doctors will not tolerate such attitudes. “We have closed down all the OPDs to record our protest,” he added.

“The doctors should contact the administration before registering a protest,” Dr Jamali advised. She confirmed that the YDA had tried to record their protest, adding that it was not the right way as patients would inevitably suffer in such a situation. “The situation doesn’t allow doctors or paramedics to disturb patients.” She warned that stern action would be taken against those who violated the rules.

Dr Usman told The Express Tribune that doctors would go on strike if their reservations were not addressed properly. He denied any contact by the administration after their protest on Monday morning.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th,2013.