MULTAN City News

No PMA elections in Multan for six years

Doctors term suspension of electoral process hurdle to acceptance of demands

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: Senior doctors of Nishtar Hospital and Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) general body members have expressed concern over non-conducting elections of the PMA Multan chapter for the last six years.

In a meeting here on Monday, the doctors and PMA general body members demanded immediate elections of the Multan chapter. They vowed to resume the democratic process in the PMA at any cost. They said that the PMA Multan body elections had not been held since 2011 while the process was due every year according to the PMA constitution. The PMA body had lost its moral, ethical and legal validity, they said, adding that the PMA Multan office-bearers had no legal status. The senior doctors also decided calling the PMA general body meeting in the coming days to ensure fresh elections. “There is no room for dictatorship in the PMA and efforts would be made to resume democratic process, resolving critical problems relating to the better health services”, the PMA members said.

Meanwhile, talking to The News, Associate Prof of Surgery Dr Masudur Rauf Hiraj said that about 12 demands of the doctors regarding patients’ health services improvement had been facing unabated delay in the absence of doctors’ representative body and the lack of election process. He said that up-gradation of operation theatres and increase in the number of staff had been facing delay since long. He said that resumption of democratic process in the PMA Multan body would be one-step forward in resolution of the problems and acceptance of demands. He said that the Nishtar Hospital was not only serving the patients from entire region of south Punjab but also from Balochistan and interior Sindh.

The health institution was facing several problems because of the invalidate body of the PMA Multan chapter, he added. He said that there was no proper forum for the doctors to redress their complaints. Dr Masud said that the people of south Punjab had been demanding up-gradation of the Nishtar Medical College to the health university level, but it could not be fulfilled due to the lack of proper representative PMA body. The patients had been suffering a lot due to inadequate beds in the hospital. He said that all wards were fully packed leaving no space for additional patients, but the government was reluctant to increase the budget and number of beds due to the absence of the effective doctors’ forum.

PMA general body member and senior Dr Imran Rafiq said that the suspended democratic process had become a blot to the face of the PMA Multan chapter.

Senior Dr Sheikh Abdul Khaliq, who was also a member of the PMA general body, said that the Nishtar College had been facing shortage of the teaching faculty for a long time.

PMA general body member Dr Zulqarnain said that the doctors had been demanding the government set up the town hospitals on the patron of the filter hospitals in the district for referring only critical patients to the Nishtar Hospital to reduce the burden on it. Dr Bilal Saeed and others were also present.