Senior LRH doctors start attending OPD

PESHAWAR: It was almost after a year or so here Tuesday that some senior doctors were seen attending patients at the out-patient department (OPD) of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).

Also, the employees working in the houses of politicians and government officials for years returned to the hospital to do their job. An official said these employees weren’t seen in the hospital in the past.

Senior officials in LRH told The News that some of the professors were seen for the first time in the OPD.“Some of the professors known for their influence on the basis of their links in the political circles and bureaucracy were for first time seen attending to patients in OPD. They are known to everybody. They would term attending OPD as against their status but we don’t know what prompted them to see the poor patients in OPD,” a senior consultant told The News.

The sources said most of the doctors had reached the OPD in time and remained there till the official time.It was apparently due to the appointment of Col (R) Dr Hamid Saeed Haq as the new Hospital Director on Monday that the influential doctors decided to change their routine.

However, some of the doctors opposing the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act 2015 were conspicuous by their absence.Though the Peshawar High Court (PHC) has given its verdict in favour of MTI Act 2015, these doctors are now engaged in meetings with senior politicians of the opposition parties to make the new system a failure.

According to insiders, some of the doctors held a secret meeting with former Health Minister and Pakistan People’s Party leader Syed Zahir Ali Shah to seek his support for their cause.According to sources, some of the employees, who had been working in houses of politicians and bureaucrats, also returned to the LRH.However, he said some of the influential doctors were now trying to develop their contacts with the new HD by using their old techniques so they can be exempted of any responsibility.