Daily Times

LAHORE: Patients were the ultimate sufferers as the Young Doctors Association (YDA) Wednesday continued its strike and boycotted emergency wards and outpatient departments (OPDs) at the public sector hospitals for the second consecutive day across Punjab on Wednesday.

According to hospitals sources, several patients, including those who had come from far-flung areas, returned without getting treatment facilities in utter helplessness as there was no one to attend them.

A few senior doctors, directed by authorities concerned, performed duties in emergency and other wards along with their subordinates but they could not workload effectively.

Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique has warned protesting doctors that they will be terminated if they did not call off their protest.

The strike prompted cancellation of thousands of scheduled and emergency surgeries.

The YDA has warned that it would call off the strike after their demands are met and Punjab health secretary is sacked from his position.

On Tuesday, a group of YDA, who had staged a protest on Jail Road, scuffled with police when they tried to march towards 7 Club Road near GOR-1, a posh locality housing government officers.

The protesting doctors had demanded the government to revoke the central induction policy and raise their allowances. “The central induction policy imposed on young doctors was limiting the aspirations of young doctors for PG training,” they said.

The scuffle had led to the arrest of seven YDA members, who were later released.

Talking to Daily Times, patients and their attendants vented their spleen on the government and the protesting doctors, who had failed to reach a common ground. They said that the officials of the Health Department had completely failed to provide medical facilities to the general public.

YDA representatives said that the Punjab government was not listening to their longstanding demands despite their repeated protests and sit-ins. YDA office-barriers said that the government had not fulfilled its promise it had made to them.

Meanwhile, sources said that the situation was almost the same at public service hospitals in Rawalpindi and Faisalabad where no medical treatment was available due to the ongoing strike of young doctors.

The administration of hospitals sought all senior doctors, who are deployed on four to six hours duty in emergency and OPDs along with various wards. But senior doctors were only marking their attendance, while no one was found doing duty properly, added sources.

Published in Daily Times, August 3^nd 2017.