Doctors’ postpone strike in inpatient departments

Rawalpindi : The outpatient departments at almost all public sector hospitals in the Punjab province remained dysfunctional on eighth consecutive day, on Thursday because of the strike being observed by young doctors, nurses and paramedics however after a suicide bomb blast outside Data Darbar in Lahore on Wednesday, the young doctors have called off the strike planned at inpatient departments of the hospitals.

The young doctors including postgraduate trainees, nurses and paramedics have not been serving at the OPDs of public sector hospitals including Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Holy Family Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital in town since May 2 as a protest against the provincial government’s plan of implementing Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act in hospitals.

The Young Doctors Association Punjab, Young Nurses Association and Paramedics Association that constituted a health employees alliance while going on strike has announced to withdraw their services from inpatient departments of all hospitals in the province from May 09, 2019.

The YDA has called off the planned strike in IPDs after suicide blast outside Data Darbar in Lahore though the strike in OPDs would continue until our demands are met, said YDA President at Benazir Bhutto Hospital Dr. Rana Azeem while talking to ‘The News’ on Thursday.

He said the announced strike in IPDs has been postponed for the time being but if the government continues to pay a deaf ear to our demands, the young doctors, nurses and paramedics would opt for strike in IPDs soon.

He claimed that majority of senior doctors have not been working properly at the OPDs of hospitals across province as they have also joined the strike being observed by the young doctors. The public sector hospitals are facilitating not more than 10 per cent of the patients visiting OPDs due to the strike, he said.

It is important that the public sector hospitals including the three allied hospitals in town are trying to operate OPDs with the help of consultants including professors, associate and assistant professors and senior registrars along with doctors employed at the hospitals to accommodate patients at the OPDs.

After implementation of MTI Reforms Act, the doctors and paramedical staff at the hospitals would be inducted through a new service structure, on contractual basis and the civil service law would be abolished while specialists operating private clinics and hospitals would not be given health professional allowance. Under the MTI Act, doctors would be given an option of following private practice on the premises of the hospital.

After implementation of MTI Act, the diagnostic and treatment facilities would become much expensive and the public sector hospitals would operate like that of private hospitals and YDA would not allow government to implement the MTI Act in public sector hospitals, said Dr. Azeem.