Majority of Lahore doctors ignore YDA protest call

LAHORE: The long march and call for closure of hospitals by leaders of the Young Doctors Association (YDA), Punjab, turned counterproductive that showed cracks within its ranks as majority of young doctors didn’t respond to their desperate calls to suspend treatment services in hospitals.

“Majority of young doctors has thwarted the YDA leadership’s attempt to disrupt healthcare services in hospitals, especially as they themselves are facing corruption, interference in administrative matters of hospitals and other charges,” said a young doctor of Mayo Hospital, where young doctors completely alienated themselves from the the YDA’s long march and continued discharging their duties in the hospital.

Earlier, the YDA leadership and activists, especially from other districts than those from  Lahore, gathered in Services Hospital on Tuesday noon and started marching towards the Punjab Institute of Cardiology to enter GOR-I. The young doctors were carrying banners and placards, inscribed with their demands, and chanting slogans against the Punjab government and Secretary Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education (SHC&ME) Department, which also caused a traffic jam on the Jail Road. “We want Secretary of SHC&ME Najam Ahmad Shah, who is a non-medical professional, to be replaced with a doctor, who will have a better understanding of the intricacies of the health sector in the province.”

They demanded reversal of Central Induction Policy, security in hospitals, one-bed one-patient in hospitals, establishment of burn units, issue of PPSC 2013 Medical Officers, implementation on service structure for doctors and other demands. However, various medical circles including young doctors believed that certain leaders among the YDA’s top hierarchy were facing serious charges of corruption in Anti-Corruption Establishment, drawing double salaries, illegal organ transplantation, etc., adding that these tainted leaders were using the YDA’s platform and young doctors to bargain for absolving the leaders of all these cases.

Police and law enforcing agencies had already been deployed and taken positions to prevent the march and any other untoward incident. As soon as the young doctors started moving towards the GOR-I, the police used water cannon and tear-gassed the protesters to prevent their entry into the high-security zone.

The young doctors also tried to scuffle with the police just to ‘play victim’ after being tortured, but the police acted wisely and didn’t beat the protesters, however, managed to push them back on Jail Road.

The police arrested nearly a dozen activists of YDA, which gave enough reason to the young doctors to continue their protest. In utter frustration, the YDA leadership immediately gave a senseless and desperate call for closure of emergencies, indoor and outdoor wards of all hospitals, which badly hit back on YDA’s authority to lead young doctors as they didn’t withdraw their services and continued healthcare services in emergency and indoor wards of the hospital. However, the YDA managed to stop healthcare services in Services Hospital, Jinnah Hospital, Lahore General Hospital and Children’s Hospital briefly, where administrations acted swiftly and made alternate arrangements to provide treatment services to the child patients. The YDA leadership proudly flaunted pictures of empty wards in Services Hospital on social media like facebook and WhatsApp groups to claim success of their strike, which was sufficient to display their mental depravity.

The unconfirmed reports were circulating about the death of an elderly female patient, Jannat-ul-Firdous, due to lack of treatment in emergency ward of Services Hospital, but the Medical Superintendent Dr Ameer Hussain denied the rumors saying that no patient had died due to lack of treatment.  The young doctors in Mayo Hospital, Lady Wellington Hospital, Lady Aitchison Hospital, Punjab Dental Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital continued treatment services without any disruption.

Meanwhile, police took 7 doctors in custody and shifted them to Racecourse police station. However, YDA leadership negotiated with the police authorities and bargained with police to quit their protest.