In a major late night crackdown against the Young Doctors Association of Punjab, which has been on strike for the past several days to press their demands of better wages and working conditions, the Punjab government raided the doctors’ hostel of Services Hospital Lahore on Sunday and arrested about 25 doctors engaged in a YDA meeting.
Reports said the YDA senior members were in a meeting to discuss their future course of action when a large number of police officials broke into the doctors’ hostel and rounded the YDA officials up.
Those arrested included YDA President Dr Hamid Butt and spokesman Dr Amir Bandesha.
Police said the arrested doctors would be detained at Race Course police station and Shadman police station. However, many YDA officials managed to escape arrest.
Reports said a total of 24 doctors had been fired from duty for being on strike, including eight working at Services Hospital, two at Lahore General Hospital, three at Jinnah Hospital, three at Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi and several others working at Mayo Hospital, Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) and Ganga Ram Hospital. The doctors sacked have been charged with fanning protests and strikes against the government. The Punjab Health Department announced the cancellation of leaves of all doctors at teaching and non-teaching hospitals across the province and asked them to return to duty with immediate effect.
Talking to reporters, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said it had become impossible to sympathize with doctors on strike anymore. He justified the crackdown, saying all doctors fell under the ambit of the Essential Service Act, adding that the government’s massive investment on educating and training doctors had been wasted due to their strike.
“The patients have also spent money on these doctors by paying taxes. Whoever disturbs the peace and order at hospitals will be dealt with an iron fist. Degrees and licenses of the doctors who remain on strike will be cancelled and they will be sent to jail,” Sanaullah said. The law minister said the Punjab government would ensure smooth healthcare operations in public hospitals at all cost.
The young doctors have been demanding a service structure for about a year. The association had gone on a similar strike last year as well, but it had been called off after assurance by the chief minister. However, none of the promises materialized, the association said, forcing the doctors to go on strike again to demand their rights. On Sunday, the YDA had put three demands before Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for ending the strike. The association had demanded that every medical officer be appointed to grade-18 directly. Their second demand had called for making the honorarium of a post-graduate equal to that of a medical officer, while the third demand called on the government to make health professional allowance equal to the basic income.The doctors had also warned of laying siege to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on July 5 if the provincial health department failed to meet their demands for the provision of a service structure.
A severe crackdown is in order. These doctors take an oath to serve the ill. They make plenty of money anyways. If, today, the govt lets them blackmail them then tomorrow it would be somebody else trying to blackmail the govt. Where will it end. Kill the b a s t a r d s. Save some of the pretty ones for me though 🙂
I am Dr. Zeeshan, from San Francisco and I am ashamed on my self of once belonging to the country where people treat their most educated people like doctors in a way like, today Government of punjab Police did. Government of Punjab is worried about poor patient, and yet every day people are dying in Pakistan because of the blazing hot sun and no electricity, conditions like hunger and poor sanitization conditions.
Shame on you Pakistan where you treat learned people like Doctors disrespectfully, and yet you come to the foreign countries to beg in the name of charity to feed your families but instead destroy the public institutions like today Punjab police did. Shame on you guys if you still have some self respect left and Say NO to corrupted Punjab Government. If not then I can only pray to Allah that they show you how to live like respectable Muslims and most important Like Human beings of self reliant civilization, because where I live even Animals in the zoo have better living conditions then What I see in Pakistan news today. I stood for my rights and all of you should also speak for your rights.
yes army doctors who are paid more have to work because they are the one getting paid from the charity money from Americans tax payers like me. Challenge is if Pakistani army doctors work on the same salary structure as civilian doctors and recognize there status, of being the soldiers of the country whose generals beg to United states to feed their false ego.
they havent provided service structure to doctors after 1.25 years. the govt is incompetent this proves. the patwari shareef should resign immediately as he has failed to deliver.
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