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Thursday March 28, 2024

No service at Services as YDA strike continues

By our correspondents
February 23, 2017

LAHORE

The Young Doctors Association (YDA), Punjab, observed a complete strike in the Services Hospital for third consecutive day on Wednesday just to protect it's leaders' alleged involvement in corruption and protest action by the Anti-Corruption Establishment.

YDA Punjab’s central leaders Dr Atif Chaudhry, Senior Vice-President, and Dr Salman Haseeb, Information Secretary, among others are wanted by the Anti-Corruption Establishment on charges of alleged embezzlement of Rs 75 million in the hospital.

The YDA has, however, miserably failed to call a strike in other hospitals after an unsuccessful attempt to give a political color to a matter of corruption. The young doctors of Services Hospital hit poor patients hard by going on a strike instead of contesting their case on a legal forum to clear their top leadership of corruption charges.

The strike by young doctors in emergency, outdoor and indoor wards in the Services Hospital created tremendous hardships for the patients. The administration has also miserably failed to make an alternate arrangement as no patient could be checked in the OPD for three days, whereas to a small extent, professors and senior doctors are trying to manage patients in medical and surgical emergencies.

The strike created tremendous problems for serious patients as attendants were forced to take them to other nearby public and private hospitals.

Meanwhile, the YDA, Punjab, has showed no relent in the face of patients’ ordeal as it vowed to continue complete shutdown of the Services Hospital till withdrawal of, what they called, a fake corruption case against it's leadership to prevent it from initiating a one-bed, one-patient campaign against the government. “The YDA gives a 48-hour ultimatum to the government to withdraw the case otherwise the OPD strike will be extended to hospitals all over Punjab,” said senior leadership while speaking at a hurriedly-called press conference in front of Services Hospital emergency on Wednesday. They also announced a protest in Children’s Hospital on Thursday (today) to pressure the government to ensure one-bed, one-patient ratio, provide free medicines, repair out-of-order machinery, enhance capacity and improve facilities, complete under-construction projects, etc.

Meanwhile, Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE)  Director General Brig (retired) Muzzafar Ali Ranjha has categorically stated that the provincial watchdog of corruption wouldn’t be blackmailed by the corrupt elements within the doctor community and law will take it course at every cost. "Everyone will have to face law of the land and we will implement the rule of law come what may", the DG ACE said this in a statement on Wednesday in response to a strike of Young Doctors Association (YDA) for protecting accused doctors from the arrest.  The DG said that ACE registered the FIR against accused doctors and others after conducting a thorough probe for one year. Making it clear that every accused doctor would have to face the law, Muzaffar Ali Ranjha advised all of them to end their strike and surrender to the investigators. 

“Instead of fighting with poor patients and nurses, let’s fight legal battle”, the DG suggested, adding, “Had there been no problem/difficulty for poor patients at hospitals, we would have arrested all the doctors nominated in the FIR.” He said that a large number of young and senior doctors had rejected the false claim of accused doctors and didn’t support their strike which was a good sign.