Poor patients who can only rely on the government-run hospitals for getting treatment may continue to face the brunt of strikes as the Young Doctor’s Association (YDA) on Tuesday once again announced to go on strike from Thursday in the federal capital against the notification issued by the secretary finance in which he declared the Health Personnel Pay Scales (HPS) as void ab initio.
YDA President Muhammad Ajmal Khan announced this during a press conference held here at Poly Clinic Hospital on Tuesday. “If the government did not take the notification back declaring the HPS void ab initio, we will launch chain protests against the unjust acts of bureaucrats including that of secretary finance for issuing the notification, when the matter is yet to discussed in the Lower House of Parliament,” he said.
Ajmal said all the members of YDA from various hospitals in the federal capital and other cities would participate in the protest until the decision of parliament in their favor, adding they were demanding nothing but their identification only. He further informed that all the federal government institutions would remain closed in capital city and Lahore during the protest and only the emergency and critical care unit would remain opened. He questioned that whether the secretary finance was more powerful or the parliament, as the former issued notification when discussion was yet to be held on the bill. “We are not part of civil service and we should be treated like professionals”, he demanded.
Ajmal asserted that YDA had no issue if both the systems – BPS and HPS – operate simultaneously, adding no one was demanding to change the seniority lists, as 90 per cent of health care professionals have opted for HPS system and very few are enjoying the BPS. The YDA president claimed that he was in contact with government functionaries to get the bill passed by the parliament, adding it was not their wish but the move of some bureaucrats who forced them to go on strike.
