ISLAMABD: The outpatient department (OPDs) of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) remained closed and over 300 elective surgeries were postponed on Wednesday as a protest against police baton charge and arrest of young doctors a day earlier.

The OPDs in Polyclinic also remained partially closed.

Young doctors were protesting against the National Licensing Exam (NLE) outside the Pakistan Medical Association (PMC) on Tuesday when the police resorted to baton charge and arrested the protesters.

Young Doctors Association Chairman Dr Haider Abbasi, while talking to Dawn, said though police had released the doctors, YDA would continue demanding the government to abolish NLE.

“We appear in the exam every year so there is no need to take NLE after completion of a house job. We will hold another meeting to announce our future line of action,” he said.

Meanwhile, former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, in a statement, condemned the baton charge and arrest of medical students and doctors by the Islamabad administration.

“The medical students were peacefully demonstrating for their academic rights which are guaranteed under the Constitution. This is not new, in the recent past students and academia have been subjected to state brutality and charged for sedition in Lahore only for demanding academic freedom. The government should immediately engage in a dialogue with the medical students and doctors to address their issues and demands,” he said.

Moreover, Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) demanded the government to consider the demands of the medical students and young doctors and resolve all issues including NLE and Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Tests through dialogue.

“Use of force is absolutely uncalled for to act on behalf of the government to enforce the decisions which are against the ground facts related to the health sector. PIMA condemns the use of coercive measures by police against medical students and young doctors in Islamabad,” said a statement issued on Wednesday.

PIMA President Prof Dr Khubaib Shahid and General Secretary Prof Dr Mohammad Tahir said the current government was imposing arbitrary decisions by issuing ordinances, causing unrest and anxiety among stakeholders of the medical profession.

“For the past several months, medical students and young doctors have been protesting across the country, but the government is not ready to address their genuine concerns. The government should reconsider its policy towards such sensitive issues. These issues can only be resolved through dialogue, instead of using police and state power,” they said.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2021