The provincial health department was in no mood to reinstate the terminated doctors of Mayo Hospital Lahore, despite the fact that the protest of doctors is entering the second week, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The protesting young doctors of Mayo Hospital were boycotting the outpatient departments (OPDs) and indoors for the last few days against the termination of their two colleagues from the post-graduate training. A three member fact-finding committee declared Dr Mazhar Rafique and Dr Shaharyar Niazi guilty of beating up a patient and his attendant. Over the recommendation of the committee, these two doctors were terminated by the Specialised Health Care and Medical Education Secretary Najam Shah. The doctors have been protesting since then, demanding the restoration of their colleagues and resignation of the secretary health.
A well-placed source at health department told this scribe that the department will not budge this time and the restoration of terminated doctors is “absolutely out of question.” According to the source, the young doctors of Mayo Hospital failed to bring maximum number of protesters at Charing Cross on Tuesday; therefore, the department has made up its mind not to accept their demands. “The protesting doctors could not grab the media attention this time around, and some factions also emerged within the young doctors of Mayo Hospital,” he revealed, while commenting on the failure of their protest.
Dr Zafarullah Khan Lashari, an office bearer of Young Doctors Association (YDA) from Mayo hospital, told Pakistan Today that a protest camp had been established at Mayo and all the young doctors will sit there for the whole day, instead of going to their wards. He further added that the protest was being launched at Mayo Hospital, Lady Aitchison Hospital, Lady Wallington Hospital, Children Hospital, Jinnah Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on a daily basis and it will be continued till the acceptance of their demands.
He accused secretary health Najam Shah and said that his goons were involved in beating up the doctors, paramedical staff and nurses of Mayo, Ganga Ram and Children hospital. “No one from the health department has approached us so far,” he said, adding that they will not negotiate with the secretary health, as he is a party in this case himself.
We’ll only negotiate with the Advisor to the Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique, he added. He admitted that they failed to bring maximum number of protesters at Charing Cross, but added that the meeting of central YDA Punjab will be held in a few days to devise a rigorous protest strategy.
Meanwhile, a doctor from Mayo Hospital told this scribe on the condition of anonymity that some senior doctors have started working in the OPDs to minimise the suffering of the patients. The working of senior doctors in the OPD reveals that the government will not accept the demands of young doctors this time, he said.
When contacted, the health department spokesperson Ikhlaq Ali Khan told Pakistan Today that the doctors were terminated after a thorough deliberation of fact-finding committee and there is no chance of their restoration now. “The department knew very well that a strong reaction will come from the doctors against their termination, but we’ll not allow them to make the whole system hostage just because of two doctors,” he said.
The department is striving for the post-graduate residents (PGRs) and hundreds of non-paid PGRs have become paid now due to the untiring efforts of health department, he said. Their protest will be over in a few days as a huge number of doctors have already rejected their protest call, he concluded.
