Tens of thousands of patients and their relatives were left in a lurch as professors, doctors, nurses and paramedics of three major public hospitals took to the streets on Thursday to protest the devolution of Health Ministry from federal to provincial level under the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
Not only patients from within the city, but also from other districts of Sindh and Balochistan, were left unattended due to the absence of paramedic staff at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute of Child Health (NICH) and National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD). Although, the doctors had not announced the boycott of outdoor patient departments, wards and emergency sections of these hospitals, they remained absent from their duties for around one-and-half-hour, forcing a large number of patients to wait.
Despite warnings from heavy contingents of baton-wielding police personnel, who requested the doctors not to block the road along four major public hospitals, the protesters did not heed and held a sit-in on the Rafique Shaheed Road, suspending vehicular movement. Addressing the protestors, Prof Tariq, Prof Dr Shaukat Ali and Chaudry Akram among other office bearers of Joint Action Committee of Doctors warned of a larger protest if the government fails to withdraw its decision to hand over these hospitals to the provincial government.
At an important meeting on Saturday, the future course of action will be decided if the doctors’ demands are not met.
