This is apropos of news item about the strike of Young Doctors in Punjab (Feb 16). It is very unfortunate that people from this respected profession are protesting for the reinstatement of two doctors belonging to Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC). They are doing so just to pressurise the government to succumbing to their petty and mundane demand.
When the health secretary and other top officials of the health department have stepped down and a judicial inquiry is underway, such a demand is against the principles of fair play and justice. The worst thing is that the medical superintendents of public sector hospitals failed to safeguard the rights of poor patients coming from far flung areas who were denied treatment in these hospitals.
These so called “young doctors” are playing in the hands of a few senior doctors who want to blackmail government by these tactics. It is a violation of the Supreme Court’s orders as it barred doctors from going on strike putting rights of patients at stake. The medical profession is a noble service and the YDA cannot behave like an ordinary labour unions due to the nature of this profession. These health managers of public sector hospitals have failed to implement the Supreme Court’s orders putting the lives of patients at risk.
PIC is a heavenly place for doctors as this hospital was made doctor-friendly instead of patient-friendly. Some doctors draw salaries on a disproportionate basis and there is nobody to question them. May I dare ask if the doctor community is above the law?
It is my considered opinion that there can be no improvement in public sector hospitals unless we appoint non-doctors as head of the institutions because the current medical superintendents are unable to regulate and control consultants of the hospital.
FAROOQ BASHIR BUTT
Lahore