YDA threatens to expand strike

LAHORE

The Young Doctors Association (YDA), Punjab, has threatened to expand strike in outdoor wards in hospitals across Punjab after lapse of 48-hour ultimatum on Wednesday (today) for not fulfilling its demands.

The YDA, meanwhile, on Tuesday continued strike at Out-Patients Department (OPD) and indoors of Services Hospital to protest against victimisation of their leadership through Anti-Corruption Establishment by wrongly implicating on charges of corruption.

The patients were the ultimate sufferers of YDA’s strike that started on 20th of February following ACE team’s raid to pick Dr Atif and Dr Salman Haseeb. 

Earlier, the YDA kept emergency, outdoor and indoor wards closed for five days at Services Hospital, Lahore. Although YDA called off strike at emergency and indoor wards last Friday, yet it announced carrying on boycott of services at outdoor wards of Services Hospital.

The outdoor strike of young doctors in Services Hospital caused tremendous hardships to the patients as hospital administration seemed helpless in making alternate arrangements as no patient could be examined in the OPD for the last over one week. It caused tremendous problems for the patients as their attendants were forced to shift them to other hospitals. The patients and their attendants criticised young doctors for frequently holding strikes and the government and health authorities for "indifferent" attitude towards the plight of patients.