The Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab has announced a phased protest culminating in the shut down of the outpatient department in city hospitals on Wednesday. The announcement came in a media briefing on Saturday in which YDA Punjab office bearers including President Dr Hamid Butt told reporters how the Punjab government had “backed out” of its promise of restoring “innocent” doctors; especially senior cardiac surgeon and PIC ex-CEO Professor Dr Azhar in the wake of the PIC drug incident which claimed more than 100 lives.
The young doctors have issued a timeline for a protest in phases and threatened to expand the strike from city hospitals to the entire province. As per details, in the first phase on Monday, young doctors will take out remonstrations only in Services Hospital and the PIC. They will hold a demonstration on Jail Road with banners and placards and block it to traffic from 11am to 1pm, while the protest will be expanded to all city hospitals in the next stage, with doctors coming out on roads outside their respective hospitals for a couple of hours.
On Wednesday, however, the OPD and indoor services will be suspended at the PIC while an OPD shut down will be observed in other city hospitals, a YDA spokesperson said, adding that the after-effects of the strike would spread to the entire province if their demands are not justly met.
