LAHORE: The Punjab health department has expanded the scope of action against five female postgraduate residents (PGRs) of the Lady Willingdon Hospital in the wake of an inappropriate video clip of the two under-treatment patients, ignoring reservations of the medical community, especially the Young Doctors Association (YDA).

The Department of Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education has intimated to the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) and the College of Physicians Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) that the Level-III training programmes of the five PGRs have been terminated under Clause 13.2 of the Policy and Procedure Manual (PPM).

The letter was addressed to the presidents of the PMDC and the CPSP to initiate further action against the PGRs for being involved in violating the standard operating procedures (SOPs). It has conveyed to the above-mentioned institutions that the action was initiated in the wake of a video clip of the C-section they recorded in the operating theatre of the Lady Willingdon Hospital.

On the other hand, the Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab came up with its parallel investigation into the incident, saying that the recording was made some four months back and the PGRs held guilty of the criminal negligence had nothing to do with its uploading on social media.

PMDC, CPSP told about their training programme termination; YDA terms punishment unjustified, uncalled for; calls C-section contest a healthy activity

YDA Punjab patron-in-chief Dr Salman Haseeb condemned the action against the female postgraduate residents and lashed out at the health authorities, declaring the punishment ‘over and above the laws’ and an attempt to destroy the future of the female medics besides defaming the sacred medical profession.

He said that the health authorities acted too late when someone uploaded the video on social media, probably for ‘amusement or with any other bad intention’ and that the incident required investigation to bring facts to the public.

In a video statement, Dr Haseeb said the competition as shown in the video clip by the gynae students should have been taken with a positive mind and a healthy activity rather than treating it as ‘a crime or gross negligence’.

“The job of the gynae doctors have been reported in my research studies as extremely stressful due to the heavy workload in the public sector hospitals across Punjab.”

Referring to some statistics the YDA gathered during its ‘investigation’, Dr Haseeb said presently PGRs were performing 20 to 25 C-sections in a shift at the Lady Willingdon Hospital.

The total number of the C-Sections ranged between 70-80 during each 24 hours without any reported case of any complication or fatality. Similarly, the other gynaecologists were rendering great services at the Services Hospital Lahore, Sir Ganga Ram and other public sector teaching institutions.

About the health department’s action, Dr Haseeb said that both the female patients and their babies they delivered some four months back during the C-sections were discharged accordingly, keeping in view their improved health conditions.

Under the above-mentioned prevailing circumstances, the prime responsibility of the health department was to ease the burden on the gynaecologists and appreciate them for creating an atmosphere of healthy performance.

“Punishing the lady PGRs hard mere on the basis of the video that too was uploaded some four months ago by irrelevant person(s) was itself an unjustified, uncalled-for act that must be treated as sheer violation of the rights of the medical professionals,” the YDA leader suggested.

He also declared punishments awarded to the PGRs nothing but to mislead the public about the scarcity of the health facilities, shortage of doctors and staff nurses and massive burden of the work on the health professionals and stressed upon the health department to review its decision for the sake of future of the female medics.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2026