Young doctors fail negotiations, continue protests

—About a dozen patients have lost their lives across Punjab after receiving no medical attention

LAHORE: The Young Doctors Association’s (YDA) strike has continued across Punjab including Lahore, where patients have been troubled due to non-availability of treatment. Emergency and OPDs are shut and where several patients have lost their lives so far.

On the other hand, the doctors have said that they will continue to protest until their demands are met. On Wednesday and Thursday, the strike continued in government hospitals of Lahore.

In PIC, Services and Jinnah Hospital, consultation treatment has been delayed whereas the government has cancelled the vacations of senior doctors and called them back on duty. However, because of the large number of patients, complete resumption of treatment facilities has not been possible

The patients are upset and they have demanded that the issue be noticed and medical facilities resumed without further delay. On Tuesday, in Jinnah Hospital, a patient lost her life due to non-provision of medical attention, which was vehemently protested by her relatives.

Similarly, on Wednesday, a patient lost his life in Jinnah Hospital without receiving treatment in Emergency. His attendants too demonstrated strong protest of the matter and asked Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif to take notice of the action.

So far, due to the ongoing strike of YDA against Central Induction Policy, more than a dozen people have lost their lives.

Punjab CM has asked for a list of protesting doctors after taking notice of the situation. The doctors haven’t rendered their duties in various hospitals including Allied Hospital, District Headquarter Hospital, General Hospital Ghulam Mohammad Abad, General Hospital, Samnabad Children Hospital and Institute of Cardiology.

An attendant Yasir Baloch has said that he brought his ill mother from Sheikhupura; 2 days have passed and she still has not been treated. He said that the young doctors find their demands to be more important than my mother’s life. If she loses her life, I hope that the government hangs these doctors, he further said.

Jinnah Hospital patient Nusrat said that she was due for an operation but has not been able to obtain treatment for the past 3-4 days despite much struggle. “I visit the hospital every day, hoping that some doctor would find sympathy in their heart and I will get operated on”, she said. “I have two kids who are 4 and 7, and a husband who works all day”, she said, appealing the higher authorities to strict action be taken against the negligent doctors.

Punjab Health Spokesperson Ikhlaq, while speaking to Pakistan Today, has said that negotiations have been held with young doctors a bunch of times and despite reaching some kind of settlement in the night, the doctors revert back on the agreements and raise new demands. It was also learned that some doctors demand that they not be transferred and posted outside of Lahore. The hospital administrations have been informed that the delinquent doctors who are preventing other doctors from working must be separated and action taken against them. He said that only merit will determine the course of action and that no one who raises voice against merit will be tolerated.