PESHAWAR, April 30: Members of the Democratic Doctors Forum have announced to continue their strike till the acceptance of their demands. The announcement was made at a press conference by the forum's president , Dr Abdul Aziz at the press club on Friday.

More than 500 house officers have gone on strike in teaching hospitals of the city for the last few days and would continue the strike till their demands are accepted by the government, he said.

He and other office-bearers of the forum, asked the government to increase the monthly stipend of the house job doctors to the basic pay scale of 17. He deplored that their colleagues were getting more stipend in Balochistan.

He said that they performed duties at the hospitals in morning, evening and night shifts, but the accommodation facilities extended to them at the hostels were inadequate. He said that owing to shortage of rooms at the hostels of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex, the house officers faced numerous problems.

"The administration of the LRH had hired accommodation at the third floor of a local hotel, where hotel, common rooms, bath rooms are non-existent and two doctors are forced to stay in a small room," he lamented.

He demanded that a new hostel at the LRH should be built to cater to the needs of the house job doctors, so that they could perform their duties in a relaxed manner. Likewise, bungalows should be hired for the house officers at the HMC and proper maintenance of the existing hostel should be carried out, he added.