The Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab has been on strike for nearly two weeks now, citing inadequate salaries and perks as the reason. Although the Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has held a press conference calling on the doctors to call off the strike, promising once again to look into the matter, the current impasse continues, which is an unacceptable state of affairs. Hospitals and doctors are turning away poor patients with genuine complications, violating their right to healthcare and their basic human rights and venturing into the unethical. This is not the first time the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and the YDA have gone on strike to make their point. They claim that the Punjab government has repeatedly promised to raise their salaries in the past and has gone back on its word, so this is their only recourse. The provincial government on the other hand maintains that it revised service structures and salaries over a year ago and that doctors are paid more than government employees in equivalent grades. It must be noted in all fairness though, that doctors work much harder than any equivalent grade government employees because of the inherent nature of their field. The uncomfortable reality is that the federal and provincial governments are probably too cash-strapped at the moment to be able to give in to the doctors’ demands. As the strike continues, the doctors are losing the trust of the public. The Hippocratic Oath that doctors take before entering the profession means that they are under a moral and professional obligation to prevent suffering and heal the sick. Even in times of war, doctors do not deny treatment to those in need, even if they are from the enemy’s ranks. The issue is also fast becoming politicised, with opposing political parties attempting to score points. This is no way to handle a dispute of this nature. The two sides — the doctors and the Punjab government — are talking at rather than to each other. If the Punjab government cannot meet the doctors’ demands in entirety, some middle ground must be reached fast. Those genuinely requiring medical services cannot be denied like this anymore. Perhaps the senior doctors, members of the PMA, should step in and play a mediatory role, so as to ensure a speedy and fair resolution, instead of joining in the strike as they currently have. The longer the row goes on the more polarised both sides become and the more difficult it becomes to reach a resolution. The most unpalatable part of this is that the longer the stalemate continues, the more innocent patients in the province suffer, most of all the poor, who cannot afford private treatment. *