Backlog of surgeries rises as doctors continue strike

ISLAMABAD, March 30: The backlog of routine surgical procedures in the city`s public sector hospitals crossed the 360 mark on Wednesday, as junior doctors continued their strike for better pay package. A senior physician requesting anonymity told Dawn that the demands of Young Doctors Association (YDA) should be resolved at the earliest as further delay would cripple the healthcare delivery system at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), Federal Government Services Hospital (Polyclinic) and the National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine. Around 500 doctors working in these health facilities have been protesting for the last over 20 days. They have closed down the outpatient departments (OPDs) and are also refusing to carry out routine surgical procedures. The doctors` demands included 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 years. The doctors continued holding demonstrations outside their respective hospitals. They were carrying banners and placards inscribed with calls for the ministry of health to meet their demands. The senior physician added that several heads of departments at Pims and Polyclinic had requested the YDA members to end their strike or at least allow the elective surgical procedures to lessen the sufferings of the patients. However, at the federal health ministry level, there seemed no development to resolve the crisis. According to one federal health ministry official, a complete file had been prepared but there were concerns in the ministry of finance and the establishment division that any increase in the salaries of the junior doctors would affect existing service and salary structures of all doctors. As per the current service structure, a young doctor with specialisation is inducted through the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) in the basic pay-scale 17 with a minimum salary of Rs30,000. "It will also increase the financial bill of the federal government and that is the reason which may restrain the finance ministry from taking any action on the matter," he said. The health ministry official said though the demands were very much genuine but a solution was possible only if both the YDA and the ministry resolved a few critical matters. A member of the YDA joint action committee, Dr Mohammad Ajmal, said they would not allow any elective surgical procedures till their demands were met. "We are also suffering as do the patients and we want to resume our duties but the health ministry is not interested in resolving the matter," he insisted.