Govt helpless as health workers continue strike on 18th day

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government couldn’t restore its writ in the public sector hospitals where the protesting health workers have paralysed services since September 27 and created a serious crisis for the patients all over the province.

The health workers, including doctors, paramedics, nursing staff and non-technical employees of the public sector hospitals continued the strike on the 18th consecutive day on Monday.Initially, a limited number of health workers were opposing the Regional Health Authority and District Health Authority.

However, the day the district administration and the police mishandled the issue by desperately using baton-charge and teargas shells on the protesting doctors, paramedics and nurses in the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), it helped the protesting health workers to get sympathies of their fellows in the entire province.

And since September 27, all health workers, including the doctors, paramedics, nursing staff and even the class-IV employees, have been on strike and have refused to provide services to the patients.

The protesting health workers have refused to tend to the patients in the out-patient departments, operation theatres, and radiology and pathology departments of the hospitals.The sources told The News that multiple players, including politicians, bureaucrats and doctors were playing a negative role to prolong the ongoing strike in the hospitals and serve own interests.

“There are many players and none of them is sincere with the doctors and other health workers. Believe me, the majority of the doctors have not even studied the RHA and DHA Act (Regional Health Authority and District Health Authority),” said a medical consultant in the LRH.

Pleading anonymity, he blamed the government, saying why it used force to torture the protesting health workers when it can’t restore its writ in the hospitals.“Thousands of patients have suffered in the past 18 days. Several surgical procedures have been cancelled since September 27 and the majority of those who have suffered are the poor patients,” said the physician.

He said patients are usually given long dates of several months for some of the surgeries in the government-run hospitals.According to him, patients would now need to wait for more than a year for the surgeries to be done in the public sector hospitals.

The government has already released 35 health workers, including doctors, paramedics and nursing staff.It was expected that doctors would take note of sufferings of the patients and call off the strike but that did not happen.

One wonders whether the protesting health workers would return the October salary to the government as the majority of them didn’t service for a single day since September 27. The government seems to be on the weak wicket after the alleged torture of protesting health workers in the LRH.

And that’s why it avoids using force that encouraged some of the protesting doctors, particularly members of the Young Doctors Association (YDA), allegedly harassing doctors who wanted to attend their institution-based private clinics.

“We can’t tend to patients in the OPDs and operation theatres. We planned to attend our IBP clinics but members of YDA came there and harassed us. If we don’t see the patients, where would they go,” asked a surgeon in the LRH. He said being a member of the medical community, nobody would justify the stance troubling the poor patients.