LAHORE – The standoff between the Punjab government and young doctors on strike took an ominous turn after the Health Department terminated 144 doctors on Sunday including 60 postgraduate trainee and house officers, Young Doctors Association (YDA) President Dr Hamid Butt among them.
The list comprised around 84 doctors, including one assistant professor, who were terminated under the Punjab Employees Efficiency and Disciplinary Act. On the other hand, the government turned away from the YDA doctors on strike and instead shifted its focus to the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), which figured nowhere throughout this crisis.
The government, in addition to sacking the doctors, also warned them to stay away from the hospitals or they would be arrested. The young doctors have so far shown no reaction, nor did the PMA – the main representative body of the medical community – comment on the development.
Various hospitals in the provincial capital recruited more than 85 new doctors to make up for the shortage of doctors, while most teaching hospitals got the go-ahead from the government to begin recruitment from today (Monday). Medical colleges’ administrations, meanwhile, evicted young doctors from student hostels.
With the government running out of patience and its deadlock with the doctors persisting as the YDA conceded nothing, the Health Department took the extreme step of terminating the services of 144 doctors, 60 of whom cannot appeal before the Service Tribunal because they are not regular employees.
Most of the doctors who were terminated belong to various hospitals of Lahore. According to a Health Department spokesman, 16 doctors from Mayo Hospital Lahore, two from Services Hospital, Lahore, four from Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi, five from Nishtar Hospital, Multan, five from Lahore General Hospital, five from Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore, two from Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, six from Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, nine from Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi, one from Bahawalpur Victoria Hospital, four from Children’s Hospital, Lahore and one from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology had been issued termination letters.
Most of the regular doctors who were terminated belonged to the District Headquarters Hospital Rawalpindi, from where 19 doctors were fired. According to Health Department figures, six regular doctors from Mayo Hospital Lahore, 13 from Services Hospital, Lahore, 6 from Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan, two from Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, four from Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, three from Lahore General Hospital, seven from Nishtar Hospital Multan, four from Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore, one from Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi, one from Tehsil Headquarter Hospital Okara, 13 from Bahawalpur Victoria Hospital, one from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology and 4 from Children’s Hospital, Lahore were fired.
The Lahore General Hospital, Ganga Ram Hospital, Jinnah Hospital and Mayo Hospital evicted the fired doctors from the hostels. Most of the teaching hospital started recruiting house officers, medical officers, senior registrars, assistant professors and professors as well. Mayo Hospital and King Edward Medical University recruited more than 30 new doctors, among them a professor of radiology, six demonstrators, an associate professor, a senior registrar, three house officers and six medical officers. Services Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital will begin recruitment today.
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Ijaz Sheikh told Pakistan Today that the hospital believed in quality, not in quantity. He said that he had formed a panel for recruitment headed by Fatima Jinnah Medical College Principal Prof Dr Rakshanda Rehman.
The Punjab government, however, made a commitment to the PMA that it would not arrest a single young doctor, but at the same time made it clear that if anyone tried to disturb the hospital management or stop others from working, the government would take action.
