KARACHI: Patients suffer yet another day of strike
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 23: For the second consecutive day on Tuesday, the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre remained totally closed for patients, as the doctors continued their protest at the killing of Dr Amir Muavia.
Even the hospital’s casualty ward, which opened briefly on Monday evening was shut down in an attempt to pressurize the government for taking action on doctors’ demands.
As usual a very large number of patients started coming to the JPMC, a public-sector hospital affiliated with the federal government, from early morning. Poor patients from all age groups and with varying nature of ailments were made to suffer yet more for no fault of theirs.
Outside the main hospital gate, a woman who identified herself as Naseeban, aged 45, complained that she had come all the way from Qasba Colony to undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer. She said that frequent closures of the hospital owing to doctors’ strikes was quite distressing for her and her family, who had to arrange hospital visits with meagre resources.
Kashif, a 10-year-old, was brought for emergency aid to the hospital for a dislocated elbow. His parents, on seeing the closed casualty ward, said they would take their son to the Liaquat National Hospital.
Scores of other patients, having waited several hours, also either opted for other hospitals, mainly the Civil Hospital Karachi, or headed for home.
Earlier in the day, at a general body meeting of the JPMC Doctors’ Association, extreme sorrow was expressed at the death of Dr Amir. Fateha was offered for the departed soul. The speakers at the open-house meeting strongly criticised the government for failing to control the continued target killings of doctors and in nabbing the killers. They also demanded Rs3 million in compensation and pension for the wife and children of Dr Amir Muavia.
During the meeting, director JPMC, Prof Qazi Shakoor, also read out a fax message from the director general health, which said that the government had decided to pay Rs500,000 as compensation to the wife of Dr Amir, in addition to life pension for his widow, a government house and a government job to any one of the close relatives of the victim, besides free education and medical facilities to the wife and children of the late doctor.
Despite these assurances however, the doctors did not end their strike.
The meeting participants were of the view that a continued closure of the hospital was the only means available to them in persuading the government to wake up to the continual killings of doctors.
According to Dr Tariq Rafi, president Doctors’ Association, a lot of issues relating to doctors safety remain to be resolved. He said that doctors were awaiting a meeting with the DG Health, who is scheduled to visit the JPMC on Wednesday, so that they could find out what the government was doing to end doctors’ predicaments.
Dr Masood Shaikh of the JPMC urology department said that it was unfortunate that a highly qualified and dedicated urologist was shot dead in cold blood and the government had failed to do anything.
PMA MEETING: President Pakistan Medical Association, Karachi, Dr Haseeb Alam, said on Tuesday, that doctors on May 1, would initiate a long march from Karachi to Islamabad, as a protest against the government’s apathy towards the targeted killings of doctors.
He was speaking at a condolence meeting for Dr Amir Muavia at the PMA House. Dr Haseeb lamented the murder of Dr Amir and demanded that the government should pay adequate compensation to his wife and to the families of the other doctors who had fallen prey to targeted killings in Karachi.
KARACHI, April 23: For the second consecutive day on Tuesday, the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre remained totally closed for patients, as the doctors continued their protest at the killing of Dr Amir Muavia.
