Patients in despair as doctors protest against govt in Pakistan's Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi: The ongoing doctors' strike at all three major government hospitals in Pakistan's Rawalpindi left thousands of patients distressed in the city.
The Young Doctors Association (YDA) have been on strike since last week in protest against the Punjab government's plan to outsource public hospitals.
The protesting doctors boycotted the Outpatient Departments (OPDs) services at Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), and Rawalpindi Teaching Hospital (RTH) Raja Bazaar on the call of the YDA Punjab, according to local media reports.
The protest brought OPD services to a standstill as patients at the three hospitals continue to suffer. The officials from the divisional administration visited the hospitals but reportedly did little to engage the Young Doctors Association (YDA) to resume services at the OPDs, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported, quoting sources.
The patients at Rawalpindi Teaching Hospital criticised the strike, saying that the government had failed to provide better healthcare despite its claims, adding that doctors often go on strike every month.
"Mostly the poor come to government-run hospitals for medical treatment, but there are no facilities here," said Riaz Khan, a patient at BBH.
Speaking to Dawn, YDA BBH President Aarif Aziz said that Tuesday marked the ninth day of the YDA's OPD strike in Rawalpindi's three major teaching hospitals, but neither the divisional administration nor the hospital administration had contacted them.
"This protest is not about salaries. It is solely against the outsourcing of hospitals. We will not allow the privatisation of healthcare. If hospitals are outsourced, poor patients will be deprived of affordable treatment," he said.
"Our struggle is for public welfare and the protection of government institutions. The OPD strike will continue until the government formally ends the outsourcing plan," he further added.
Meanwhile, young doctors across Punjab shut down operation theatres of many government hospitals on Tuesday after the police uprooted the protest camp of employees of the state-run health facilities.
The police lodged an FIR against 200-300 protesters, allegedly for attacking police and injuring some of the personnel.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, YDA Pakistan president Dr Atif Majeed condemned Police FIRs against the employees of the government hospitals, and claimed that they were protesting peacefully for their "legitimate demands."
Local media reported that last week, YDA's Punjab chapter announced the shutdown of Lahore by staging sit-ins on all the main roads of the provincial capital in a bid to force the Punjab government to review the decision of outsourcing the state-run health facilities in the province.
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