For their pains, the doctors figure they should be better remunerated and have more izzat than assorted government bureaucrats
It is yet another scorching day in Short-Term-Memory-Loss-istan. The mainstream media is taking sides, again. The social media hacks are up in arms, again. In the scorching heat of the summer sun, millions of ‘mango people’ are being sunburnt, dehydrated and carted off to the morgue for want of basic medical attention. Therefore, the ‘young’ doctors are out on strike. Again. The ‘old’ doctors, meanwhile, are supposedly sipping cognac in their dinner jackets, holding their pinkys to their mouths and sniggering wildly as they watch the mayhem unfold onscreen. If this were an Oliver Stone movie, it would sweep the Razzies. Unfortunately, the story comes from the most infamous of the Stans; which is why it must be underplayed and glossed over. But consider some facts.
Since its inception in 2008, the Young Doctors Association has sent its members on strike a total of eight times. In the 2011-2012 period alone, this is the third such strike. Obviously, doctors play by baseball rules and are now ‘sitting out’ the remainder of the time that this impasse continues. Sunday’s closure of the emergency ward at Mayo Hospital is another indication that the doctors are bent on seeing this through to the bitter end. Much like the US government, these doctors also consider all casualties along the way are ‘acceptable collateral damage’, a small price to pay to achieve their long term strategic goals. In fact, the blood of these casualties is not on the hands of the professionals at all: it is on the manic fangs of the monster that is the Punjab government. Those extremist-hugging right-wing sons of guns must be to blame for this; because they usually are the most convenient of scapegoats. What with their ridiculous sloganeering of ‘good governance’.
Then there is the question of their ‘demands’. In the words of ‘Striking Doctors for Dummies’, the YDA has two principal demands: more pay and better employment benefits. While this is an oversimplification, it is not too far from the truth. Doctors, after being allowed to unionise, have now realised that their pay and service structures are quite unfair to those of them (read all of them) who have put themselves through the extensive (and expensive) trouble of medical school. For many, this is roughly the equivalent of two tours of duty in Vietnam, Afghanistan or Mozambique. For their pains, the doctors figure, they should be better remunerated and have more izzat among the ranks of lowly secretaries and other assorted government bureaucrats. While their demands for more pay were met last year, when the Punjab government agreed to raise doctors’ salaries by 40 percent in the fiscal year 2011-2012 and by another 60 percent in the fiscal year that began last Sunday. That’s about a 100 percent raise from March of 2011. That’s about a 100 percent increase in a sixteen-month period.
Unfortunately, that is not all they want. The question of izzat still remains unresolved. Doctors want to be free of the shackles of the Basic Pay Scale system. Either that, or they want that all Medical Officers in government hospitals (which is like being a lecturer at a public sector university, an entry-level position for young graduates) to be BPS-18 employees. Ostensibly so they can attest their friends’ documents and help forge visa applications. Also, they want that postgraduate trainees be paid the same as aforementioned Medical Officers, mostly because they do all the work while the Medical Officer goofs off. And ‘supervises’: these trainees must always be supervised. No, really. But on top of that, they want that the ‘Health Professional Allowance’ (money they get for just having taken the trouble to become doctors) be made equivalent to each doctor’s basic pay.
On the face of it, these demands look quite benign. Acceptable, even. In fact, if this were a first world country, there would be no need to have a strike in the first place, because all these demands would’ve been accepted immediately. Sounds legit, no? Well, it’s not. The world over, doctors and healthcare professionals such as homeopaths and chiropractors grumble and complain about bad pay and unreasonable work hours, not to mention exceptional stress at the workplace. But unlike other places, here, the doctors have an obstinate and broke Punjab government to deal with. And what the Punjab government can’t pay for, it will put in the hands of a committee. Which is exactly what has happened to these demands.
Being a doctor isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. Especially when you have the Hippocratic Oath to honour and a family to feed. But somehow, oaths and professional commitments take a backseat when it comes to the size of one’s wallet and ego. While the demands of the Young Doctors may be reasonable, the means they are employing to drive their point home are not kosher, to say the least. While I do not support nor justify state highhandedness against medical professionals, I do believe that violence and incitement to violence begets a violent response. Doctors, as a profession, are not to blame. But it is incumbent upon their ‘leadership’ to be true to the cause and focus on finding a ‘political’ solution to the impasse. The closure of emergency wards is an underhanded tactic, one which cannot be endorsed, no matter what the circumstances.
It’s time the Khadim-e-Aala woke up and smelt the coffee. He needs a health minister like an addict needs his next fix; right now. The government of Punjab needs to understand the gravity of the situation and come up with a comprehensive plan that will solve this issue in the long run. And the doctors need to be less stubborn and more sympathetic to the plight of their fellow beings. Have we learnt nothing from the last time, or the time before that, or the one before that?
But I digress. Welcome to Short-Term-Memory-Loss-istan
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