The Young Doctors Association (YDA) threatened on Saturday to shut down the hospitals of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad in protest against the registration of “fake” FIRs registered against the doctors of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore.
Members of the association also staged a demonstration against what they termed “a clear injustice with the doctors” outside of Polyclinic Hospital and chanted slogans against the Punjab and Sindh governments.
A few days ago, the Punjab police registered a murder case under Section-302 of the PPC against three senior doctors for their alleged negligence in the treatment of patient who had died at Shaikh Zayed Hospital. The accused doctors included Associate Professor Dr Haroon Majeed, Assistant Professor Dr Haroon Dar and SZH Senior Registrar Dr Zulfiqar.
The protesters alleged that the police framed charges against the three doctors because the of political pressure of the lawyers since the deceased was their colleague.
Speaking on the occasion YDA President Dr Muhammad Ajmal said that they would boycott their work at hospitals if Punjab government failed to withdraw the FIR.
He recalled that in 2010, the government had introduced a health care commission which recommended that police could not register any case against doctors involving mishaps during their professional duty. He said if any one had any grievances against those doctors he or she should approach the commission first. Dr Ajmal also said that the registration of cases could create fear among the doctors to treat serious cases.
Dr Ghulam Mustafa, a senior doctor at Polyclinic Hospital, also condemned the killing of Hindu doctors in Sindh and termed it a failure of the government to protect the lives of its citizens.
