LAHORE: The agitation by the Grand Health Alliance (GHA) seems to be waning in energy and enthusiasm as only a few thinly-attended rallies were taken out by the government employees in Punjab on Tuesday against the outsourcing of the state-run healthcare facilities.

The GHA had announced on Monday to close down 25 major roads of the province, including five in Lahore, to protest terminations and registration of criminal cases against the protesting employees of the public sector hospitals and the decision to outsource the state-run healthcare facilities.

According to reports, very thin presence of the government employees, including young doctors, was witnessed in the rallies taken out across the province.

In Lahore, the GHA organised protest demos outside the Lahore General Hospital, on Jail Road and near the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

Over only a dozen employees of the Mayo Hospital gathered at Nila Gumbad and ended the protest just after half an hour.

Similarly, the witnesses say, the young medics and other allied health professionals blocked the Jail Road and Ferozepur Road for traffic for an hour or so.

The employees also registered their protest in some other major cities of Punjab where they staged sit-ins on roads and raised slogans against the government and health authorities. On the other hand, a partial strike was observed in the OPDs of the state-run hospitals of the province.

The young doctors, under the banner of the YDA Punjab, took rounds of the OPDs and indoor wards of different hospitals to ensure closure of the facilities. However, the hospitals’ administrations tried to provide services to the patients by assigning duties to senior doctors at these facilities.

The government directed the vice chancellors, principals and heads of the teaching/medical institutions to take rounds of their institutions and ensure continuation of healthcare services for the patients. The health department’s senior officers also visited hospitals and issued directions to keep the OPDs and indoor departments fully functional.

Meanwhile, Shadman police lodged another FIR against 80 employees of government hospitals, nominating 18 of them, including leaders of the Young Doctors Association, Punjab, for blocking Jail Road for traffic on Tuesday.

The FIR alleged the protesters were requested to avoid gatherings on road as it would create security risks for them and others, but they ignored the warnings.

YDA leaders, including its Punjab President Dr Shoib Niazi, Dr Salman Haseeb, Dr Babar Bhatti, Dr Rafqat, and Dr Usama were nominated in the FIR for leading rallies from Services Hospital and Punjab Institute of Cardiology.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2025