The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) on Thursday announced to shut emergency services in hospitals across the provincial capital following a 15-day strike in Outpatient Departments (OPDs) against the abduction of a surgeon. Dr Ghulam Rasool Kakar, a surgeon at Balochistan Medical Complex (BMC), was kidnapped over two weeks ago by unidentified men.
The doctors boycotted the OPDs since then, and also did not visit the hospitals’ wards to check the patients, increasing their plight manifold. Hundreds of patients hailing from far-flung areas come to government and private hospitals in Quetta for medical treatment. The OPDs have been close for the last 15 days after the doctors announced strike against Rasool’s kidnapping. A PMA meeting, led by its Balochistan president Dr Sultan Tareen, was held here on Thursday and decided to shut emergency services.
