No breakthrough in govt-doctors standoff

Senior doctors at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) announced closure of all departments at the hospital other than the Emergency Ward and demanded immediate release of the arrested doctors as the Young Doctors Association’s (YDA) strike entered 18th day on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference, Medical Teachers Association (MTA) President Dr Ijaz Ahsan said senior doctors were withdrawing their services from all departments, including the Outpatient Department (OPDs) and Indoor Departments.
“Young doctors are the backbone of our system. All arrested young doctors, particularly young doctors of the PIC should be released immediately,” said Ahsan.
He said the doctors currently deputed at PIC were untrained and could not handle heart patients. “It takes a doctor 10 years to do FCPS and then another five-year training to become a cardiologist. How could you expect new doctors to come and replace those who have already completed their training?”
Ahsan said only two doctors were present in the Emergency Ward at PIC on Monday night, adding that they had been “abused and threatened” by the attendants as they had been unable to handle the situation.
“Senior doctors are in their 50s and cannot do rigorous work for 24 hours. That is why we are demanding that our doctors should be released immediately,” Ahsan said.
He said the government was beguiling patients and the media by showing that they had deployed doctors at all hospitals.
YDA spokesman Dr Salman Kazmi said five meetings between the Health Department and the office bearers of the YDA and the PMA were held which remained inconclusive.
Solidarity: Expressing solidarity with the MTA, representatives of the Paramedical Alliance of the PIC and the Young Nurses Association (YNA) also announced that they would stop working at PIC.
25 call off strike: Meanwhile, 25 doctors ended their strike and resumed their duties at DHQ hospital in Gujranwala on Tuesday, as the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) released 24 of the 33 doctors from Kot Lakhpat Jail. According to a private TV channel, the released doctors dissociated themselves from the protest movement and promised to extend cooperation to the authorities.
An official at the Central Jail told reporters that the doctors, who had been shifted to the CM’s Secretariat, had signed affidavits stating that they were tendering an unconditional apology and would not strike again. YDA office bearers, on the other hand, refuted the statement, saying these doctors were not YDA members but were students of medical colleges who were arrested by police without verification.
The Punjab law minister has said the provincial government would not hold talks with the doctors on strike, adding that the ones who are persistent on holding strikes would be blacklisted and terminated.
Meanwhile, Lahore High Court Justice Aijazul Hassan issued notices to the health secretary, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), and the YDA for July 6 and remarked that young doctors’ strike in Punjab was against their oath. Hearing a case against young doctors’ strike, Justice Hassan said the law and the constitution did not give the doctors any right to go on a strike.
YDA Islamabad chapter: The protests spread to the north with the YDA Islamabad chapter holding a demonstration outside the Federal Government Poly Clinic (FGPC) against manhandling of young doctors by the Punjab Police. The protesters chanted slogans against the Punjab government and asked it to meet the demands of the young doctors.
Budget: Late in the night a private TV channel reported that the Punjab government had reduced the budget allocated for medicine and uplift projects by 43 percent.
About Rs 26 billion have been spent on the payment of salaries of doctors, vehicles and other facilities while Rs 1.10 billion were spent for Health Professional Allowance.