Back-to-back meetings between Adviser to Chief Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique, the Young Nurses’ Association (YNA) and the Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) on Monday, to address the issue at Jinnah Hospital, failed to resolve the matter.
On Sunday, the YNA called for a province-wide protest against the “maltreatment” of a duty nurse by a doctor at Jinnah Hospital. However, not all nurses in the province responded to the call. Nurses of Mayo Hospital and the Services Hospital only joined the strike.
Rafique arrived at Jinnah Hospital accompanied by Health Services Director General Dr Zahid Pervez to address the matter. They met with representatives of the YNA and the YDA separately.
After more than two hours of meetings, Rafique left the hospital without having arrived at a mutual solution. However, he said that he would visit the hospital again on Tuesday.
Rafique had suggested constituting a committee to decide how to solve the matter. However, the YNA refused.
Hospital officials said despite their repeated requests, the YNA had refused to budge from their main demand: punitive action against the doctor. YDA officials said it was unfortunate that the YNA was turning a matter between two individuals into a war between doctors and nurses.
Dr Javeed Aheer, a member of the YDA at Jinnah Hospital, said they had requested Rafique to form a neutral committee to solve the matter. He said they were ready to accept the committee’s decision, whatever it may be. He said terminating a doctor just because nurses didn’t like him did not make sense. He said they were ready to back off, if YNA backed off. He said the issue should have stayed between the doctor, the nurse and the administration.
YNA president Rozina Manzoor said they would not accept any committee. “Such committees are formed to shove the matter under the carpet... we want justice.”
She said the only solution acceptable to them was the doctor’s termination. She said a suspension and an inquiry would not be accepted. She said this was a case of harassment which should not be taken lightly. She said they had asked Rafique to intervene and punish the doctor.
Rafique told The Express Tribune said that he would visit Jinnah Hospital at around 2pm on Tuesday. He said nurses and doctors were like his children and he would try to arrive at an amicable solution between them.
On November 16, a doctor at Jinnah Hospital allegedly used abusive language for a nurse on duty. The doctor had confessed to being rude in an inquiry of Additional Medical Superintendent Aftab Iqbal. The hospital later formed a committee to investigate the matter. The committee admonished the nurse and the doctor for misbehaving with each other. The nurses, however, refused to accept the committee’s decision and demanded stern action against the doctor. Members of the YNA in Jinnah Hospital went on strike on November 20. They called for a province-wide protest on November 24.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2014.
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