PESHAWAR: Doctors at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) observed a complete strike on Saturday to force the government to address their concerns about security demands.
The strike was observed on the call of the Provincial Doctors Association (PDA). The doctors community of Peshawar was outraged after a senior doctor was kidnapped last Friday.
Dr Intikhab Alam, a senior physician from the city’s Lady Reading Hospital, was kidnapped on October 7 from his clinic in Peshawar and was recovered on October 14 after a shootout with kidnappers in which one kidnapper was killed and another was injured.
HMC doctors boycotted their duties and set up a camp in front of the hospital to treat the patients. The doctors demanded that the provincial government provide security to their community and recover the three other kidnapped doctors.
PDA president Dr Shah Sawar told reporters that doctors were being threatened and kidnapped, while the government was failing to provide security.
He said though Alam had been recovered, the authorities have yet to find whoever was responsible. He said that the three doctors have been kidnapped from the other parts of the province and that the government was powerless to do anything for the security of the doctors’ community.
He said that a summary of benefits announced by the government for the doctors was pending at the Chief Secretary’s office and awaiting his signature for the last three months and that was an injustice to the community.
Sawar said that if the authorities did not accept their demands by Sunday (today), then the doctors at Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) Peshawar and Ayub Medical Complex (AMC) would also go on strike from Monday and boycott their duties.
“If the government does not heed our demands, then we will also close down the provinces’ largest hospital, the LRH,” Sawar added.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2010.
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