LAHORE/FAISALABAD: Young doctors ‘forcibly’ closed down the Out Patient Departments (OPDs) of public sector hospitals across Punjab on Monday to protest the alleged manhandling of doctors at the Lahore General Hospital and Sargodha District Headquarters Hospital.

In the provincial capital, a good number of patients and their attendants visiting various healthcare facilities, including Mayo, Lahore General, Services and Jinnah hospitals faced problems because of young doctors protest.

Closure of OPDs on the call of the Young Doctors Association (YDA) forced many patients to visit costly private healthcare centres for treatment.

The situation was even worse for those needing admission indoors for medical care and proper management of diseases.

Some unpleasant scenes were reported outside hospitals involving visitors, doctors and paramedical staff.

The affected people lodged protests outside some of the hospitals, including Mayo Hospital, blaming the doctors for their plight .

YDA had announced a continued closure of the OPDs’ till action against those responsible for security of duty doctors at the public sector hospitals.

The closure of OPDs also affected service delivery at other departments as the protesting doctors stayed away from their duties.

Patients were the ultimate sufferer in the standoff between the young doctors and the government.

The strike also caused cancellation of hundreds of scheduled and emergency surgeries, while indoor patients were denied clinical tests.

In Sargodha, the protesting doctors completely shut down the DHQ hospital, denying healthcare facilities even in the emergency unit.

In Lahore, LGH young doctors continued strike at Surgical Emergency and OPD.

Neither any representative of the provincial health department nor any other government official approached the protesting doctors for negotiations to convince them to resume their duties at the OPDs.

On the other hand, YDA office-bearers claimed young doctors withdrew services only from the OPDs and continued performing duties in emergency, indoor and operation theaters.

They claimed doctors were performing duties in hospitals as usual, and no operations were postponed. However, the situation was otherwise as patients were seen running from pillar to post to get the required treatment.

YDA spokesman Dr Khurram Shahzad alleged manhandling of duty doctors at DHQ Hospital, Sargodha, by relatives and workers of a ruling party MNA, Hamid Hameed.

He said doctors at the LGH were also tortured by relatives of a patient which could be seen in the CCTV footage.

Dr Shahzad said Sargodha DHQ Hospital was completely shut down while doctors at LGH had withdrawn services from OPD and Surgical Emergency.

He said closure of OPDs would continue till acceptance of all legitimate demands of the protesters, including registration of FIRs and arrest of culprits, suspension of Sargodha district administration officials, reinstatement of sacked doctors and foolproof security for on-duty doctors at public sector hospitals.

He demanded all the hospitals be declared “zero tolerance zones” as per the agreement already reached between YDA and the Punjab government under the service structure.

In Faisalabad on the YDA’s call, doctors of the Allied and the District Headquarters (DHQ) hospitals did not attend patients at the OPDs on Monday.

A large number of people, mostly poor, visit the both public hospitals daily as they can’t afford private treatment.

Earlier, OPD of the DHQ hospital had remained closed for three days (from April 12-14), Allied Hospital for two days (April 13-14) and the Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology for one day (April 14) because of doctors protest against a PML-N office-bearer Pervez Kamoka. They were demanding his arrest.

Mr Kamoka had been booked by the Civil Lines police on charges of allegedly barring doctors of the DHQ hospital from performing their duty after he entered an operation theater along with his armed guards and threatened the medics with dire consequences when they asked him to leave.

Doctors of the three hospitals resumed their duties after Irfan Mannan, son of MNA Mian Abdul Mannan, apologised on behalf of Mr Kamoka.

Ahmed, an attendant of an aged patient with breathing problem said young doctors go on strike right away without considering the impact of their action on the patients. He said the doctors should register their protest against the torture of their colleagues lawfully but not at the cost of the patients. He said doctors should consider the problems the patients and their attendants had to face while reaching the hospitals from different parts of the division.

He also criticised the Punjab government and the ruling party for defending alleged wrongdoings of their parliamentarians and their henchmen, ignoring the issues of the masses who bring them into power.

Nasreen Hayyat, a housewife from Kokianwala, who was attending a patient, asked what alternative the poor patients had when doctors at state-run hospitals went on strike even over “minor issues”. She said the government seemed to be helpless when it came to dealing with certain “pressure groups”.

The government should ban unions at the hospitals which were places meant for saving lives, she suggested. YDA local chapter president Maroof Vaince told Dawn that multiple incidents of torture of doctors happened in different hospitals of big cities including Faisalabad, Multan, Lahore and Sargodha.

He said instead of patients, the parliamentarians were priority of the government which was condemnable. He said doctors were being pushed against the wall by letting the “culprits” off the hook.

“Why the government is not arresting the culprits involved in torture of doctors in Sargodha and other districts. Doctors have tried repeatedly to improve the hospitals’ affairs with the help of the government, but in vain.”

“We too were worried because of patients’ miseries. As doctors we are well aware of their problems. But what option we have to protect our lives from the goons when the government is not taking action against the culprits,” he asked.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2016