Doctors continue to boycott OPDs at govt hospitals in Quetta

QUETTA: Young doctors continued their boycott of outpatient departments (OPDs), in-door and elective services at the government hospitals in Quetta on Tuesday as the protest entered the second day against the arrest of their fellow doctors.

The patients suffered greatly due to the ongoing strike of the young doctors as they failed to get the healthcare facilities at the government hospitals. A spokesperson of the Young Doctors Association (YDA) said that the strike would continue until their demands were fulfilled.

The spokesperson further said the young doctors were protesting against the FIRs lodged against the doctors and their arrests. The young doctors threatened to boycott the emergency services at the hospitals too, if their demands were not met.

On November 28, police had arrested 19 doctors and paramedics staff for staging a protest sit-in and blocking roads linking the city’s red zone to its other areas. The doctors had been protesting for a week near the red zone area, seeking fulfilment of their demands. Earlier, the Balochistan High Court had also asked the doctors to end their protest sit-in.

Police had also lodged FIRs against the arrested people for violating the Criminal Law Ordinance (passed on November 27 that banned rallies, processions and sit-ins on streets, roads and highways) and coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs).