Doctors, nurses and paramedics of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) continued their two-hour boycott of outpatients departments (OPDs) on Tuesday to protest the transfer of these hospitals administration from the federal government to the provincial.
Similar to what happened on Monday, a large number of patients, who visited the two major public sector hospitals of Karachi from different parts of the city and other areas of the province, were forced to wait for more than two hours before they received medical attention. The protesting doctors’ leader, Dr Javed Jamali had announced that the two-hour boycott would continue from Monday to Saturday. “After Saturday, we will hold a meeting to plan further protests,” he told Pakistan Today.
“The new federal health minister has not assumed charge yet and until then, we will continue out protest,” he added. Even as a large number of patients have suffered due to the OPD boycott, the authorities have registered no criminal case against the protesting doctors.