LAHORE: Activists of the Young Doctors Association (YDA) again forced closure of outpatient departments of seven teaching hospitals in Lahore on Saturday in protest against the central induction policy for postgraduate training of doctors.

However, the Mayo Hospital administration succeeded in keeping its OPD open throughout the day.

The OPDs of Jinnah, General, Children’s, Ganga Ram, Lady Wallingdon, Lady Aitchison and Punjab Dental hospitals continued to wear a deserted look throughout the day, the last working day before a long weekend as Monday would be a public holiday on account of Eid-i-Miladun Nabi.

Closure of OPDs caused inconvenience to hundreds of patients, especially those who had come from far-flung districts of the province.

A group of young doctors did come to get all the doors of Mayo Hospital OPD closed and bar the paramedical staff, deputed to issue prescription slips to patients, besides the patients from entering the premises.

The presence of a police contingent outside and that of senior doctors inside the OPD forced them to leave the premises, but not without raising slogans against the hospital administration and the health department.

YDA’s Punjab chapter president Dr Maroof told reporters outside the OPD of Jinnah Hospital that the young doctors would stop working at the indoor wards of public hospitals if the central induction policy was not given a second thought.

“Every year at least 4,000 doctors graduate from public sector institutions and through the central induction policy only 500 of them will be able to study further. It will merely ruin the medical profession,” he said.

Dr Maroof said that since the Mayo Hospital chapter of the YDA had been dissolved, doctors there were not taking part in the protest and performing duty as usual.

Meanwhile, Punjab Minister for Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Khwaja Salman Rafique said most of young doctors rejected the strike call by a group of young doctors in outpatient departments of government hospitals on Saturday.

“A majority of junior doctors along with their seniors performed their duties with a spirit to serve the ailing humanity and provided medical treatment to thousands of patients in tertiary-care hospitals,” said the minister while regretting that a group of young doctors were making hue and cry over non-issues and trying to interrupt smooth working of hospitals.

Mr Rafique said since the Residency Admission Committee, after consultation with all stakeholders, had already incorporated feasible and practicable proposals in the policy document, the protest and strike had become meaningless.

The minister said the turnover of patients was slightly less while only five to 10 per cent working in OPDs had been affected due to the strike call of a group of young doctors.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2016