Doctors associated with Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and other similar organisations have announced to boycott duties in the out-patient departments (OPDs) at government-run hospitals across Balochistan to record protests over the abduction of Dr Ibrahim Khalil from Quetta last week.

Unidentified armed men had kidnapped neurosurgeon Dr Khalil from Quetta's Shehbaz Town area on Thursday.

The decision to boycott the OPDs was taken at a joint meeting of doctors’ action committee on Monday, which was attended by the representatives of PMA, Young Doctors Association, and others.

Through the two-day boycott — December 18 and 19 — the doctors intend to mount pressure on the authorities to ensure unhurt recovery of Dr Khalil, said Dr Hanif Luni, the press secretary of doctors’ action committee.

The doctors expressed dissatisfaction over the efforts made for the recovery of Dr Khalil and urged upon the authorities to double their efforts. “No progress has been made […] the entire community is deeply concerned about the abduction of Dr Khalil,” Dr Luni said.

The committee had already given a 48-hour ultimatum to the government to recover the missing doctor, but the authorities fail to abide by.

“The doctors will also observe a token strike from 3pm to 5pm on December 18-19 at private hospitals. While our future line of action will be decided later,” Dr Luni said.

He demanded of the Balochistan government to formulate a comprehensive security strategy for the safety of doctors across the province.