RAWALPINDI: Young doctors from three government-run hospitals on Thursday protested on Murree Road in front of Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) against insufficient healthcare facilities at Punjab’s government hospitals and the harassment of women doctors.

On the call of the Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab, over 200 doctors held a rally from BBH to the main road, and then blocked the road.

Carrying placards that stated their demands, the doctors chanted slogans against Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab Health Secretary Najam Shah and other health department officials.

The doctors were led by YDA BBH President Dr Rana Mohammad Azeem, YDA Holy Family Hospital (HFH) President Dr Ashfaq Niazi and YDA District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital President Dr Shahid Fida. The protesters held Najam Shah responsible for deterioration of Punjab’s healthcare system.

The protest caused traffic to be suspended on Murree Road for two hours. The protest ended after negotiations with the local police.

The doctors vowed that they would spread their protest demonstrations if their demands are not met. A heavy police contingent was present on the occasion to control the situation.

Speaking to Dawn, YDA Punjab Chairman Dr Haider Akhter said government-run hospitals in Punjab were facing a shortage of healthcare facilities, and the government had turned a blind eye to the matter.

He said the recent incident in Ahmedpur Sharqia, in which over 200 people died from burn injuries, exposed the lack of facilities at government-run hospitals since there was no burns unit in Bahawalpur or nearby areas.

He said burn units in Rawalpindi and other cities are also in bad condition, and MRI and CT scan machines are not available, and it is difficult for doctors to get pathological examinations from hospitals and fewer facilities force patients to visit private hospitals.

He said three women doctors were harassed by the assistant commissioner in Sahiwal, who visited the DHQ Hospital last week and forced women doctors to attend the inauguration of a coal power project with the administration hoping attractive women doctors would receive dignitaries at the ceremony.

“The assistant commissioner wanted to use good looking female doctors for protocol duties, which is against the constitution and human rights,” he said.

Dr Akhter said the other 15 points for the protest were: insecurity for doctors at public hospitals, delays in the appointment of doctors selected through the Punjab Public Service Commission in 2013, delays in the regularization of medical officers appointed on ad doc contracts, the continued victimization of young doctors for raising their voices on missing health facilities, the violation of merit in recent inductions through the central induction policy and delays in the implementation of the service structure plan.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2017