As expected the Punjab government on Wednesday issued warning letters to young doctors to end the strike by March 21 otherwise their services would be terminated.
Meanwhile, the executive director of Federal Government Services Hospital (Polyclinic) in Islamabad in a letter requested the ministry of health to fulfil the demands of the junior doctors whose ongoing protest seriously threatened to disrupt health services at the hospital,
The doctors in Rawalpindi have been protesting for raise in their salaries for the last 16 days while their counterparts in the capital city launched the strike a couple of days back.
The doctors who have been issued the warning letters in Rawalpindi are: Ghulam Abbas, Ayaz Mughal, Rana Mohsin, Ambreen from DHQ Hospital; Waleed Abbasi, Fizan Rao, Gulshan Khan, Asif Raza, Suhail Chuadhry, Jawad Ahmed, Mohammad Kashif, Mohammad Kamran, Naeem Ahmed and Nasir Mehmood from Holy Family Hospital; Umer Saeed, Mohammad Aqeel, Mohammad Shoiab, Faisal, Mohammad Shafi and Abdul Rasheed from Benazir Bhutto Hospital.
The doctors were given letters signed by the medical superintendents of three teaching hospitals.
Sources told Dawn that before dismissal the Punjab Health Department had issued warning letters to save its skin from future litigation.
Giving reaction to the letter, Young Doctors Association (YDA) on Wednesday termed it a pressure tactics of the government to force the doctors to give up their campaign for their rights.
The YDA demanded the government to withdraw the letters otherwise they would close the service at the city hospitals.
Punjab YDA Chairman Dr Mohammad Haroon said that the Punjab government had prepared a list of 48 doctors all over the Punjab and these 20 doctors were included in the list.
He said that 15,000 doctors were united in their struggle for their rights and action against any doctor anywhere in the province will turn peaceful protest into violent.
He said on the one hand the provincial government was meeting doctors but on the other it had issued warning letters to the protesting doctors.
He said that YDA`s meeting with a committee led by Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa in Lahore ended without success as the provincial government failed to issue notification for salary increase.
He said Pakistan People`s Party (PPP) also announced to support their strike. Leaders of other political parties including Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pervaiz Ellahi of PML-Q and Jamaat-i-Islami also assured their support to doctors.
In Islamabad, as the Young Doctors Association (YDA)`s protest entered the third day, its members again closed down the outpatient department at Polyclinic for one hour on Wednesday.
In a letter sent to the federal health ministry, Dr Shaukat Kiyani said: “The hospital has recently been facing a series of protests by various cadres for pay raise, career structure and regularisation.”
The letter said YDA was planning to extend its token strike to two hours daily but had postponed the timeline for one week on the verbal assurance of the hospital administration.
Dr Kiyani suggested that the health ministry may hold discussions with the representatives of the doctors and assure them that their issues would be resolved amicably.
The doctors have demanded induction of all their colleagues in BPS-18, pay increase from Rs22,000 to Rs70,000 and regularisation of doctors working on contract for the last several years.
When contacted, YDA President Dr Mohammad Ajmal said: “The one-hour token strike will continue for five days and in case the health ministry failed to meet our demands we will extend the duration to two hours.”
He warned that after March 25 “YDA will completely close down the OPD and the other departments at Polyclinic.” Besides, the same will be followed by our colleagues at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and the National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicines.
Around 150 young doctors are working at Polyclinic, 300 in Pims and 25 at the NIRM.
Meanwhile, when approached, an official of the health ministry said: “They have not received anything in writing from the executive director of Polyclinic and will only comment on the matter after receiving an official communication relating to doctors` strike at the hospital.”
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