LAHORE: A group of young doctors on Saturday locked a professor of King Edward Medical University (KEMU) along with junior consultants for two hours.

The incident sparked agitation among students of the teacher who called the incident an extreme step and demanded action against the “attackers” from Young Doctors Association (YDA).

Witnesses said some YDA men led by Dr Inaumullah Barki and Dr Umair Rana visited Prof Akmal Laeeq, chairman of the paediatric department, and asked him to induct some postgraduate trainees. On refusal, the visitors got annoyed and started misbehaving with Prof Laeeq. The matter worsened when some medics of the department objected to the rough attitude of YDA members. A clash ensued between the visitors and students of Prof Laeeq.

Later, YDA activists locked Prof Laeeq along with an assistant professor and senior registrar in their room for around two hours. Meanwhile, one of those locked up called in police.

Medical Superintendent Dr Amjad Shahzad also rushed to the university and rescued the detained senior medics, according to the witnesses. They said students of Prof Laeeq and other senior colleagues later assembled on campus and condemned the incident, calling it “an ugly approach by YDA activists”.

They said a particular group in the YDA Mayo Hospital chapter was pressing teachers for induction of postgraduate trainees of their choice. The protesters alleged the ‘attackers’ also misbehaved with a lady doctor of the same unit when she stepped up in support of her professor.

A senior office-bearer of YDA Punjab, Dr Amir Bandesha, said junior doctors lodged a protest when Prof Laeeq refused to induct the “deserving” postgraduate trainees. He said no YDA office-bearer of the Mayo Hospital was involved and the protest was lodged by some junior medics and their colleagues, which was their right. He, however, made it clear that YDA Punjab was formed to fight for the rights of postgraduate trainees, house officers and other young doctors.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2015

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