KARACHI, April 5: Different organisations representing the medical fraternity have called upon the Sindh government to take immediate notice of the unrest prevailing among young doctors on account of extremely low remuneration before the situation goes out of control as it happened in Punjab.Representatives of the organisations demanded that the summary to increase the salaries of house officers and post-graduate doctors, pending with the chief minister for two years, should be approved immediately.
While supporting what they called the young doctors’ genuine demands, they also stressed that doctors must not withdraw emergency facility from to poor patients regardless of circumstances.
They were speaking to Dawn in the backdrop of a demonstration organised by groups of house officers and post-graduate doctors at the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre on Tuesday.
The protesting doctors holding placards and wearing armbands couldn’t get much support from their colleagues when they gathered in front of JPMC’s auditorium in the morning. But they remained peaceful and no disruption was caused to hospital services. Only slogans were raised against the Punjab government.
Dr Abbas Ali Shah, representing the newly formed Young Doctors Association, said that the purpose of the demonstration was to draw government attention towards the problems junior doctors had been facing for long.
“We are peaceful and will never let the patient suffer. We condemned what happened in Punjab and demand that the government bring uniformity in the salaries being offered to junior doctors in the country, regularise contractual employees and restore service structure. This means that house officers in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa shall get at least what their counterparts are receiving in Punjab i.e. Rs18,000 a month. Is it too much to ask for?” he asked.
Instead of resolving the issue, he said, the Punjab government was threatening employees by throwing them out of jobs and serving show-cause notices. “This is the beginning of a movement as we are trying to contact our colleagues in other public-sector hospitals of the province,” he said when asked about the association’s future strategy.
Dr Seemin Jamali, deputy executive director and official in charge of the JPMC, said that the administration had no problem with a protest as long as it remained peaceful and didn’t disrupt services to patients.
“There are 350 post-graduate doctors and 150 house officers at the JPMC. A peaceful protest is every person’s right. But the administration will take action if hospital services are disrupted.”
She added that the representatives of young doctors had not held any discussions with the hospital administration.
Support for junior doctors
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (Pima) and Sindh Doctors Action Forum have announced their support for the struggle of young doctors and healthcare workers.
In a press statement, the PMA said that the organisation was concerned over the tragic affairs in Punjab that had been caused mainly due to the government’s apathetic attitude towards the genuine demands of doctors.
“The PMA on many occasions have raised the issue of doctors’ service structure and extremely low salary packages of healthcare workers. But government officials always turned a blind eye towards these pressing issues,” it said, while calling for immediate remedial measures and reiterating its policy that patients should not suffer at any cost under whatever circumstances and should have access to emergency services round the clock.
Dr Atif Hafeez, representing Pima, said that the association was principally against strikes and measures that could cause suffering to poor patients. “But at the same time, we feel that young doctors have genuine demands regarding their low salaries. It is unfortunate that the government is rewarding certain sections of society for no rhyme or reason, but it is not willing to pay doctors what they rightly deserve.”
Dr Mujtaba Memon of the Sindh Doctors Action Forum also supported the demands of young doctors and said that their association would participate if a call for a strike or boycott was given.“We have been holding rallies on these issues for a long time but to no avail. Both house officers and post-graduate doctors are getting Rs12,000 in Sindh while they are being offered Rs18,000 and Rs28,000 respectively in Punjab. Is it justified? Even a constable is getting a salary of Rs22,000 these days,” he said.
The forum, he said, had won the case for implementing service structure and the summary for the same had been approved. The summary for improving young doctors’ salaries was, however, pending with the chief minister for two years.
“The situation is so poor in Sindh that if the government withdraws the no-objection certificate condition on doctors, all medical experts will leave the country. It’s time that the government wakes up and reads the writing on the wall,” he said.