Doctors versus paramedics: Report yet to be submitted on hostel lodging complaints

Trainee medical officers hoping for a just outcome from committee

PESHAWAR: A deadline issued by doctors at Lady Reading Hospital to resolve their hostel lodging complaints has expired. However, the enquiry committee constituted to find a solution to the matter has yet to submit its report.

According to officials, an enquiry was under way and the committee recorded the statements from both sides.

Insiders familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune the enquiry was under way despite the fact that doctors had given the committee a two-day deadline which expired on Friday. The purpose of the investigative body is to pin responsibility for a scuffle between doctors and paramedics which left at least eight injured.

“We had given them a deadline,“ a member of the doctors’ action committee, Dr Iqtidar, told The Express Tribune. “We are expecting a positive result will help devise our future strategy on Monday.”

He said the doctors expected justice from the probing committee.

On the other hand, official said they recorded statements from both sides and the committee needed time to give a balanced and unbiased report. “We are not in a rush and the doctors as well as the paramedics must wait.”

“We have created a questionnaire and we cannot give a specific timeframe as we have to identify the culprits,” an official privy to the enquiry said.

The official, requesting anonymity in light of the continuing probe, said the committee would also investigate to whom the hostel was allotted.

Earlier this week, doctors and paramedics brawled over hostel lodgings which the former claimed were for them. At the same time, paramedics stated the PC-1 of the hostel read that only they would be allowed to board.

Only the enquiry report will determine the actual facts. However, some hospital officials said the hostel was allotted for female doctors of the gynaecology block. Meanwhile, others in the LRH administration contended that the hostel was meant for paramedics and doctors had unjustly taken it over.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2015.