KP govt pledges to reopen OPD services today

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Friday announced the reopening of services at all Outdoor Patient Departments in all major public hospitals of the province from today (Saturday) and warned of stern action against those creating hurdles in the provision of health services to the people.

Speaking at a press conference, provincial Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai said the OPD services in all major hospitals of Peshawar and the province were stopped due to protest by doctors' association after a clash between protesting doctors and the security detail of the provincial health minister.

He said the government has decided to resume OPD services from Saturday and anyone who created hurdles would be dealt with an iron hand. He added the government was preparing list of those doctors who were creating hurdles in the provision of health services to the people and show-cause notices were being issued to them.

"A handful of doctors wanted to sabotage health reforms introduced in the province by the PTI government," the minister maintained. He said that some volunteer doctors wanted to provide services at OPD and if they were stopped from doing so the government would take action accordingly and sternly.

Shaukat Yousafzai said the provincial government has brought reforms in the health sector to facilitate the people of remote areas, but unfortunately some doctors wanted to sabotage it due to their personal and political interests.

The minister said that in line with the health reforms the KP government increased the strength of specialist doctors from 280 to 931, medical officers from 3,639 to 8,801, house officers from 24,000 to 62,000 and Trainee Medical Officers (TMOs) from 42,000 to 103,000.

He said government was ready to hold consultation with doctors and they were free to continue their protest, but hampering health delivery services and blocking the reforms process cannot be tolerated.

Shaukat Yousafzai said an inquiry was already in process to probe the quarrel between doctors and the minister's security detail. He urged the protesting doctors to let the inquiry committee complete its investigation. He clarified that the government should not be considered weak which can be threatened with protests. The minister also warned that government action can lead to dismissal of services of protesting doctors.

He also rejected in categorical terms the demand of the protesting doctors to remove provincial Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan and Dr Nausherwan Burki, chairman Board of Governors (BoG) of the Lady Reading Hospital.

Secretary Health Dr Muhammad Farooq said Health Department has ordered transfer of 700 doctors to their districts of domicile. A total of 2,500 doctors would be transferred to different districts to provide badly needed services to the people in remote and under-developed areas, he said.

The protesting doctors led by Dr Ziauddin Afridi barged into a meeting of the policy board at the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar and threw eggs at Dr Nausherwan Burki, a cousin of Prime Minister Imran Khan. who is based in the US and has been voluntarily offering his services to improve healthcare facilities in KP. This led to a scuffle in which Dr Zaiuddin Afridi suffered injuries.