Dr Jamal’s killing: doctors’ protest enters second day
January 11, 2012
The strike by doctors at the four tertiary care hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against the kidnapping and subsequent murder of a senior cardiologist entered the second day on Tuesday.
Dr Syed Jamal Hussain was kidnapped from Hayatabad town in Peshawar two months ago. On January 8, his bullet-riddled body was found in Jamrud in Khyber Agency. The Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) had given the strike call at the Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) Abbottabad, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) in Peshawar, but it called off its protest at the HMC to provide better care to those injured in the Jamrud bomb explosion in the adjoining Khyber Agency on Tuesday.
Most of the victims of the blast were brought to the HMC where a state of emergency was declared and the doctors were called to provide medical care to the injured.
PDA President Dr Shah Sawar personally approached his protesting colleagues to reach the hospital and help save lives of the injured. The majority of the blast victims were shifted to the surgical, neurosurgery, ENT and orthopaedic wards.
The protesting doctors also convinced senior doctors to join the strike. The senior doctors had attended their private clinics on Monday but kept them closed on Tuesday. A member of the PDA remarked that they always protested for the rights of their senior colleagues, who never extended cooperation to their juniors in the hour of need. “Some of our senior doctors didn’t even bother to close their private clinics for three days on our call,” the PDA member complained while wishing not to be named.
The PDA members held protest outside the four teaching hospitals and chanted slogans against the government for its failure to protect the doctors who were performing duties in unfavourable circumstances. They vowed to continue protest today (Wednesday) at the teaching hospitals. The PDA officials claimed that the doctors in all the districts of the province also stayed away from their hospitals to protest the incident.
Dr Syed Jamal Hussain was kidnapped from Hayatabad town in Peshawar two months ago. On January 8, his bullet-riddled body was found in Jamrud in Khyber Agency. The Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) had given the strike call at the Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) Abbottabad, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) in Peshawar, but it called off its protest at the HMC to provide better care to those injured in the Jamrud bomb explosion in the adjoining Khyber Agency on Tuesday.
Most of the victims of the blast were brought to the HMC where a state of emergency was declared and the doctors were called to provide medical care to the injured.
PDA President Dr Shah Sawar personally approached his protesting colleagues to reach the hospital and help save lives of the injured. The majority of the blast victims were shifted to the surgical, neurosurgery, ENT and orthopaedic wards.
The protesting doctors also convinced senior doctors to join the strike. The senior doctors had attended their private clinics on Monday but kept them closed on Tuesday. A member of the PDA remarked that they always protested for the rights of their senior colleagues, who never extended cooperation to their juniors in the hour of need. “Some of our senior doctors didn’t even bother to close their private clinics for three days on our call,” the PDA member complained while wishing not to be named.
The PDA members held protest outside the four teaching hospitals and chanted slogans against the government for its failure to protect the doctors who were performing duties in unfavourable circumstances. They vowed to continue protest today (Wednesday) at the teaching hospitals. The PDA officials claimed that the doctors in all the districts of the province also stayed away from their hospitals to protest the incident.
