RAWALPINDI: Young doctors of the three government-run hospitals of the garrison city observed a strike till noon on Wednesday.

The Young Doctors Association (YDA) boycotted the outdoor patient department in the three government hospitals the last two days to protest the manhandling of a post-graduate trainee doctor at the Services Hospital Lahore by officials of the Anti-Corruption Department for reportedly being nominated in a corruption case.

The outdoor patient departments in the District Headquarters Hospital, Holy Family Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital were closed from 8am to 12pm on Wednesday,

Young doctors deputed in various wards of the hospitals were also not at duty during that time, no doctor rounds were reported on Wednesday and hospital managements asked senior doctors to check on patients. Senior officers from the three hospitals said the provision of health services was affected due to the strike and that senior doctors had to work extra.

YDA Punjab Chairman Dr Haider Akhtar told Dawn the strike was called off and that the YDA had given the provincial government 48 hours to apologise for the incident.

He said the association had demanded that those officials who had tortured the doctor without even having an arrest warrant be arrested. He said the medical superintendent and deputy medical superintendent of the hospital were also nominated in the case but the department officials only visited them for questioning.

Dr Akhtar claimed the provincial government was not paying attention to the problems of patients and doctors and was instead using tactics to give doctors a bad name.

The government is upset by the YDA’s province wide campaign for pointing out the health department’s inefficiency, he said.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2017