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Thursday March 28, 2024

Government warned of Sindh-wide boycott of public hospitals

By M. Waqar Bhatti
February 24, 2017

Doctors’ protest extends to other cities; health department

fails to bring them to negotiating table

As the young doctors’ protest entered its second day on Thursday, the boycott of outpatient departments (OPDs) and elective surgeries extended to public hospitals in other cities of Sindh, leaving many a patient in the lurch.

Matters could get worse by next week if the provincial government fails to address the protesters’ grievances, as the authorities have been given a two-day ultimatum to reach an agreement.

Civil Hospital Karachi’s (CHK) postgraduate trainees and house officers continued their demand of being disbursed salaries consistent with the revised stipend announced in a September 2016 government notification.

Thousands of patients, including women, children and the elderly, continued to suffer because the young doctors refused to carry out their responsibilities and assist their senior professors and consultants.

The protesters bemoaned that their colleagues at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) were being paid Rs65,000 a month while doctors at the CHK and many other public hospitals in Sindh, including Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Larkana and Sukkur, were still receiving Rs42,500.

Dozens of surgeries and procedures were postponed at the Civil Hospital and other public health facilities of the province because of the boycott by postgraduate trainees, who are considered an integral part of the health system.

CHK administration referred patients to other hospitals, including the JPMC and the NICH, and said they were helpless in providing health facilities to many people because of the protest.

“CHK’s postgraduate doctors and house officers continued their protest on the second consecutive day and boycotted OPDs and elective surgeries,” Dr Anand Parwani, a spokesman for the hospital’s young doctors, told The News.

He claimed that the young doctors were carrying out their duties at wards and were available for emergencies but, he warned, they might decide to boycott those services too if their demands fell on deaf ears.

The protesters gathered in front of the CHK medical superintendent’s office and marched on the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), where they staged a sit-in to demand that the Sindh government pay them their increased stipend.

The doctors claimed that the provincial administration and its health department paid heed to only those people who resorted to demonstrations and agitations, which, they said, was evident from their silent protest that went unnoticed for the past five months.

“JPMC and NICH’s postgraduate doctors are being given increased stipend since September last year while we have been demanding the same for the past five months,” lamented Dr Parwani.

“We reminded the authorities on a number of occasions that if our salaries are not increased we may resort to protests and boycott of health services, but nobody listened.”

Realising the gravity of the situation, the health department sent Additional Health Secretary Jamaluddin to negotiate with the young doctors and defuse their demonstration, but the protesters refused to listen to him.

They told him that they would continue their boycott until the government issued a notification announcing increased salaries for the postgraduate doctors and house officers.

The government official urged the young doctors to call off their boycott in the interest of patients and sought 10 days for resolving their grievances, but the protesters declined the offer and said they would continue their demonstration until their demands were met.

“We’re not giving even a single day’s time to the health department,” said CHK Young Doctors Association (YDA) President Dr Waris Jakhrani. “We’d rather boycott all health services, even the emergency services, if our demands are not met.”

YDA Sindh President Dr Samiullah Gill claimed that OPDs were also boycotted by young doctors at the Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences in Jamshoro, Peoples University of Medical & Health Sciences in Nawabshah, Civil Hospital Hyderabad and many other public health facilities across the province.

“If our demands are not met within two days, all health services will be boycotted in the entire province, including at hospitals where increased stipend is being paid to doctors, in solidarity with our colleagues. In this scenario, the government will be responsible of any mishap or suffering of patients.”