Around 300 security guards from Jinnah Hospital and Allama Iqbal Medical College (AIMC) announced on Sunday that they will establish the Young Guards Association (YGA) for the protection of their rights, honour and dignity. The decision came following a scuffle between the doctors and a security guard at the Jinnah Hospital emergency ward.
According to details, Usman, a doctor from the surgical III ward, assaulted security guard Zeeshan and registered a case against him in the Garden Town police station. The hospital administration announced a three-member inquiry committee comprising Masood Raheed, Zafar Ullah and Additional Medical Superintendent (Admin) Dr Saeed Sobhan. The inquiry committee, after negotiations with the young doctors and security guards not only ensured conciliation between both parties but also convinced the young doctors to take back the FIR.
Earlier, the young doctors had arranged a meeting with AIMC Principal Dr Javid Akram and pressurized him to terminate the security guard. Akram suggested terminating all security guards of the hospital as well as the college. However, one of the senior officials said if they terminated the guards, then they would go to the courts for their rights. The settlement between the young doctors and the security guards was arranged in the surgical III conference room in the presence of the Surgical III Department Head Dr Zafar Chaudhry.
The security guards, after conciliation with the young doctors, decided to configure the YGA for the protection of their rights. The security guards will announce the structure of the organization in the next meeting that will be called next month. YGA also plans to affiliate with the guards of other public hospitals, in the long run. Zeeshan said he had decided to join YGA due to Dr Usman’s unjust behaviour. He said he was beaten up because the job of a security guard is supposed to be only saluting the doctors and the administration and added that they were not paid any respect.
Another security guard from Jinnah Hospital said be it stealing of a doctor’s vehicle’s tyre or misplacement of medicine from the stores, the guards were accused. He said they would not remain silent anymore and would fight for their basic rights. Jinnah Hospital Director Security Iftikhar Ahmed Cheema said the security guards had a right to establish an association that supported their demands. He said the scuffle the between doctors and the security guards had been settled and there were no other issue.
