Protesting doctors close OPDs

ISLAMABAD, March 28: Young doctors protesting for better pay package in the city's three major public sector hospitals on Monday closed the outpatient departments (OPDs) which caused hardship to patients and led to cancellation of about 100 elective surgical procedures. The members of Young Doctors Association (YDA) at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), Federal Government Services Hospital (Polyclinic) and the National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM) intensified their protest against the Ministry of Health for its failure to meet their demands. An elective surgery is a planned or non-emergency procedure that may be medically required or optional. Around 300 young doctors are working at Pims, 150 at Polyclinic and 25 at the NIRM. They have been demanding induction of all their colleagues in BPS-18, pay increase from Rs22,000 to Rs70,000 and regularisation of doctors working on contractual basis for the last several year. The protesting young doctors cancelled routine surgical procedures at Pims and Polyclinic leaving hundreds of patients in trouble. The health ministry, which was not expecting such a big response to the strike call, tried to restore routine working in the two major healthcare centres but to no avail. A senior health ministry official said they had requested the protesting doctors to come to the negotiating table and discuss their concerns with the ministry. "We have requested them to talk to us but they are not willing to resolve the conflict, and some of their demands are definitely unjustifiable," said the official. At Pims, the Children Hospital, Maternal and Child Healthcare Centre and all the 22 medical and surgical specialties remained out of work while Polyclinic presented even a grimmer picture as patients were not entertained even by senior physicians. Doctors at Pims again gathered in front of the VIP gate along with YDA members from NIRM and chanted slogans against the health ministry. The same was followed at the Polyclinic. "The same will be done on Tuesday until our demands are met…We will not listen to the federal health ministry, instead representatives of the prime minister or parliament should negotiate with us," said a member of YDA's joint action committee. Another member of the committee, when approached, added: "We are not willing to discuss anything with the health ministry because a few days back they had refused to entertain us and now they are saying something else after we closed the OPDs." "There is no one to treat my daughter who is suffering from asthma," said Nighat Saeed who was sitting outside the Children Hospital since morning. But Sajid Abbasi, a key member of the YDA, said: "We will treat the injured or other patients in the emergencies of Pims, Polyclinic and NIRM but not a single routine surgical procedure will be carried out if the patient is not critical until our demands are met." Nonetheless, according to information gathered by this reporter, around 104 patients underwent major or minor surgeries at the emergency of Pims, while five major and 10 minor surgeries were conducted at the Polyclinic. Meanwhile, three senators – Rehana Yayha Baloch, Saeeda Iqbal and Zafar Ali Shah – visited the protesting doctors at Polyclinic and assured them that they would make efforts to resolve their issues within 48 hours.