Doctors’ strike – Government to take on agitators

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LAHORE – The Punjab Government has decided to take on the doctors who are agitating others to observe strikes to push for improvement in their pay package. A high level meeting was held at chief minister (CM) secretariat under the chairmanship of MNA Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, to take stock if the situation created in the aftermath of continuing strike observed by doctors.
The meeting was attended by principals of medical colleges and medical superintendents of all the 13 teaching hospitals involved in the strike which has led to the closure of OPDs and even emergencies and ICUs of some hospitals.
A participant of the meeting disclosed that some harsh decisions were taken in the meeting to preempt doctors from continuing strike and diffuse the prevailing situation. The meeting decided to prepare the list of the doctors who are on the forefront of the strike, especially student doctors doing specialisation or FCPS part I.
Regional director of College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP) Dr Khalid Masood Gondal and Principal Alama Iqbat Medical College Prof Dr Javid Akram could not attend the meeting because of some official engagement. Dr Khalid Masood, however told this scribe that he was ready to implement the decisions taken at the meeting once he was provided with the list of “mischevious elements.”
He further said that CPSP has registered about 13,000 FCPS part I students and more than 55 percent students belong to Punjab. MPA Dr Asad Ashraf said doctors belonged to civilized community but they have chosen a wrong way to highlight their problems. He said government will not allow the doctors to continue closing down intensive care units (ICU) and emergencies of hospital.
He said this issue cannot be resolved overnight. He said doctors should not endanger lives of patients. He said if doctors continue their strike the government will take legal action and will register cases against the agitators. He said that the Punjab government raised the salaries of its employees by 50 percent recently and all doctors benefited from this increase.
He ruled out any other revision in their packages before the next budget. The Punjab health department official told Pakistan Today that this was the first time that emergencies and ICUs were closed down by the doctors. The officer however denied if any harsh decision has been taken, saying the health department’s doors are open for the doctors.