KARACHI – Doctors working in public sector hospitals across Sindh including Karachi observed a two-hour strike on Friday in response to the call issued by the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Karachi against increasing incidents of killings of doctors in the province.
The PMA issued the call for this strike on Thursday during a meeting held at the PMA House to condemn the brutal murder of yet another doctor, Dr Imran Wasi, who was shot dead near the Lyari General Hospital.
Wearing black armbands, doctors in all the major state-run hospitals, including Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Civil Hospital Karachi, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and the Kidney Centre, boycotted wards, outdoor patients department (OPD) and other offices.
Thousands of patients including women and children coming for checkups in the OPDs had to face a lot of difficulties due to the strike.
Another meeting of the PMA would be held on Saturday to review the situation and decide for further protests.
PMA Karachi President Dr Idrees Adhi told Pakistan Today that the call was issued to all private and public sector hospitals to observe the strike but only the doctors from state-run hospitals responded.
“Despite assurances by the government, the ongoing incidents of the doctors’ fraternity have not stopped so we issued the call for the protest and in Saturday’s meeting, we will decide the future course,” Adhi said.
The strike was also observed in National Institute of Child Health (NICH) where, according to its director Prof Jamal Raza, around 800 children are brought daily.
