Doctors turn political

The Young Doctors Association’s (YDA) Punjab chapter turned political on Wednesday, as it gathered the critics of the Punjab government and its policies under the banner of a healthcare convention organised in the auditorium of the Allama Iqbal Medical College (AIMC). The Punjab YDA employed political tactics by inviting not only young doctors from Punjab and YDA office bearers from other provinces, but also other groups having grievances against the Punjab government.
The gathering meant to discuss healthcare and its problems turned political after the convention’s participants unleashed severe criticism of the incumbent regime in Punjab, with some participants talking about ‘a revolution in the offing’ and the YDA Punjab President Dr Hamid Butt threatening to ‘overthrow the Punjab government if their demands were not met’. Butt also hurled abuse at Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Senator Pervaiz Rasheed for failing to meet their demands.
He termed the convention ‘proclamation of a war against the Punjab government’. A YDA office-bearer demanded resignation of CM Shahbaz Sharif over his failure to address doctors’ problems. The participants, the doctors and guest speakers, either directly talked about a ‘revolution’ led by the white coats or implicitly mentioned it in their fiery speeches. The convention, which was supposed to highlight the issues the health sector faces, was not attended by any principal or vice chancellor of a public medical college, whom many say distanced themselves from the convention because they knew that the convention was going to ‘digress’ from the real issue.
Criticizing the Punjab government, AIMC Principal Prof Javed Akram said, “I fully support the cause of young doctors and am willing to resign if need be. If the government does not announce a special salary package for doctors, we will trounce the parliament.” He said the government spent a ‘meagre’ 0.5 percent of the GDP on healthcare, while 60 percent was spent on defence, which he alleged, “could not even figure out who came and killed Osama Bin Laden and threw his body in the sea”.
He said the YDA members contributed Rs 5,000 each to financing the healthcare convention while the faculty members contributed Rs 10,000 each to organising the event. The government should spend at least 2 percent of the GDP on healthcare, he added. Women’s Chamber of Commerce President Dr Shela Javed Akram said the doctors should increase their strength, as ‘governments bowed down in front of numbers’.
She also announced renovating the committee room for the YDA and contributing to furniture for it, so that the YDA office bearers get a place to hold meetings and take decisions. Abrarul Haq, a singer, said Pakistani doctors were held in regard across the globe, but the government did not provide healthcare facilities. He said the politicians go abroad for treatment and hence do not spend on public healthcare.
Hasan Nisar, a renowned columnist, said the middle class could become doctors, engineers and generals but could not ‘go near the assemblies’. “A revolution is in the offing which is going to be led by the medical community,” he added. Mubashar Lucman, a TV anchor, threatened to expose the video footage of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah regarding his pledge to doctors, if the government did not meet the doctors’ demands.
PCS Officers’ Association President Rai Manzoor Nasir said the Punjab government was in the habit of giving ‘false promises’. “We have gone through the same in our struggle against the DMG. We have identified eight departments including health and agriculture which will have technocrats as secretaries and not bureaucrats heading these departments,” he said, adding that the DMG has been looting the country since its inception, but now its days were ‘numbered’ and the PCS Officers’ Association supported the doctors’ struggle.
Furthermore, the YDA office bearers from other provinces appreciated the role of the Punjab YDA and hurled criticism at the Punjab government. The Pakistan Medical Association, PCS Officers’ Association, Pakistan Pharmacist Association, Punjab Paramedical Alliance, YDA Sindh, YDA Balochistan, YDA Federal, PDA Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa attended
the convention.