THY NAME IS YDA!
After a break of 18 days from the previous strike, which had resulted in 11 deaths due to neglect from the protesting doctors, young doctors will start demonstrations again on July 26 till August 13 from General Hospital Lahore. Young Doctors Association (YDA) on Saturday gave another call for a strike over their demands for service re-structuring. The young doctors said that no strike will be observed at hospital wards during the demonstrations. They warned, however, that the protests would spread to all government hospitals if their demands were not met. During the last strike, YDAs from other provinces had also joined the doctors of Punjab and had announced strike over the ‘maltreatment’ that was meted out to doctors by the police. As the doctors were making calls for another strike, Lahore Additional Session Judge accepted bail pleas of three detained doctors associated with YDA. All of them were arrested on the charge of death of a child patient Fahad during last month YDA strike in Punjab. These doctors claim that the police had registered fake cases against them under direction from the Punjab government and said that the child did not lose his life because of their negligence. The court accepted their bail till July 26. The doctors had called off their demonstrations after half month of heightened strike with boycott of emergency, indoors and OPD wards. During this time, a case was lodged against doctors over the killing of an infant. The Lahore High Court (LHC) had ordered young doctors to end their strike and resume work in outpatient and inpatient departments of all government hospitals. The court also asked the provincial government to work for service structure of doctors.
