LAHORE, July 4: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said here on Wednesday that doctors had ended their strike, but the Young Doctors Association immediately contradicted his claim.

“We will not resume work in outpatient and emergency departments till the release of all doctors, quashing of FIRs against them and issuance of a notification of service structure,” Punjab YDA Punjab spokesman Dr Mudasar Razaq Khan told Dawn soon after the law minister had issued the statement.

He described the minister’s announcement as a conspiracy hatched against the striking doctors and said no representative of the YDA had attended the talks held between the principals of medical institutions and the government on Wednesday.

He also contradicted a statement of Dr Zulqernain, a purported spokesman for the YDA, that the young doctors would resume duty in emergency wards. Rana Sanaullah told reporters the matter had been resolved in an hours-long meeting between government representatives and the principals.

He said the two sides had reached an agreement under which the young doctors would announce to end their strike and the government would release all the arrested doctors.

Meanwhile, a handout issued on Wednesday said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had praised the role of doctors and said the striking doctors should immediately call off their strike, unconditionally, and take up their responsibility of serving the ailing humanity.

He said negotiations with the doctors could only be held if they ended their strike. He said if the doctors called off their strike and assumed their responsibilities, their genuine demands would be considered in consultation with senior doctors.

The chief minister constituted a committee comprising senior doctors, public representatives and government officers and asked it to submit its recommendations as early as possible.

He was addressing a meeting of senior doctors, vice-chancellors, principals and professors held at the chief minister’s secretariat.

The senior doctors appealed to the chief minister to pardon the striking doctors.

Mr Sharif said doctors had taken oath of serving the ailing humanity by rising above personal interests, but the striking doctors were playing in the hands of elements who were not concerned about problems and difficulties of the masses.

He said going on strike and not attending to patients for pressing their demands was tantamount to violation of the oath taken by doctors.

He said the government had so far exercised restraint but this behaviour would not be tolerated any longer.

The chief minister said the Punjab cabinet had cut the salary of its members by 25 per cent last year and 30 per cent this year, but the remuneration of doctors had been increased.