YDA to launch movement

Rawalpindi : After Sindh, the young doctors serving at public sectors hospitals in Punjab are planning to lodge a series of protests, a movement against the decisions of the PTI government while in Rawalpindi, the young doctors have decided to start protest demonstrations from Tuesday against suspension of Dr. Tariq Masood Niazi, medical superintendent of BBH and the government’s plan of implementing Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act.

The Young Doctors Association (YDA) at Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) along with YDA’s chapters in Holy Family Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital after consultation with YDA Punjab has decided to launch protests from Tuesday against suspension of Dr. Niazi who was suspended when he refused to obey request of Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat regarding posting of a female doctor, daughter of PML-N’s leader Hanif Abbasi.

After protest demonstrations by the young doctors in the province, the chief minister’s secretariat announced that it had directed the Punjab health ministry to reinstate Dr. Niazi yet the ministry had only abolished his suspension and had not given any posting to him as yet. Also the enquiry initiated against Dr. Niazi under PEEDA Act 2006 has not been closed so far.

Through a notification issued on February 4, the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department placed Dr. Niazi under suspension under section 6 of PEEDA Act 2006 on account of negligence and misconduct with immediate effect directing him to report to SHC & ME Department. Earlier, in a leaked telephonic conversation between Dr. Niazi and the Punjab Law Minister Basharat Raja on December 16, 2018 that went viral on social media, the minister threatened the MS BBH of consequences when he refused to follow the minister’s request of giving Dr. Areeba Abbasi her favourite posting in Dermatology Department of the hospital.

More than 10 days have passed but despite the announcement made from chief minister’s office, Dr. Niazi has not been reinstated at his post of MS BBH and we are going to launch a movement for restoration of Dr. Niazi from Tuesday, said YDA President at BBH Dr. Rana Azeem while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday. He said in the first phase of protest, the YDA would boycott outpatients departments of the allied hospitals on Tuesday and establish makeshift OPDs in open. The protest demonstrations would be continued till reinstatement of Dr. Niazi, he said.

He added the series of protests is being designed to restrict the PTI government from implementing MTI Reforms Act in the Punjab province and it would be started from Tuesday. The movement against implementation of MTI Act would be launched throughout the province and young doctors serving anywhere in public sector would protest against the government’s decision of introducing MTI Act in Punjab that according to YDA has proved to be a failure in Khyber Pakhtunkhwah, said Dr. Azeem.