ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: The strike of the medical and non-medical staff against new health pay scales initiated from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) extended to other public hospitals of the federal capital on Thursday.
The Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) of Federal Government Services Hospital (FGSH) commonly known as Poly Clinic Hospital and the National Institute of Rehabilitation and Medicine (Nirm) were closed down.
The medical and non-medical staff at the public hospitals was demanding withdrawal of new Health Personnel Scale (HPS)-2011 introduced by the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) in August 2011.
The protesting staffers have already filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking withdrawal of the new health pay scales terming them discriminatory and a move by the government to snatch the civil servant status of the health professionals.
Owing to the strike, thousands of patients have to face problems as they have no alternative for treatment or consultation from the physicians.
“It's unfair as senior doctors refused to attend us saying they are on strike,” said Furqan Ahmed, a visiting patient at the Poly Clinic Hospital.
He said that the patients could not get any medicine from the pharmacy of the hospital as it remained closed the whole day.
A senior administration official of the Poly Clinic Hospital when approached admitted that strike was being observed at the hospital and a few departments were closed down. “The OPDs were closed partially,” he claimed.
However, a visit to the hospital indicated that different departments were closed down while the senior faculty members who have not opted for the new pay scales were not present since they were also supporting the striking paramedical and non-medical staff members of the hospital.
Another main public health facility, National Institute of Rehabilitation and Medicine (Nirm), was also closed down due to the strike by the doctors who have not given consent to join new Health Personnel Scale (HPS)-2011.
The HPS was introduced by the government through an ordinance issued on August 26, 2011 however it lapsed on Dec 26, 2011 as the Parliament did not consent it into a law.
Meanwhile, at the Pims the situation was no different as its OPDs remained completely closed and none of the paramedical staff was there to attend to the patients. Pims Executive Director Prof Dr Mehmood Jamal when approached for comments said: “The strike has already crippled the hospital's routine working but we are still trying to convince the protesters to end the strike at least for the time being.”
Prof Jamal said: “We have requested the protesters to end the strike for a week and during that Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) will ensure that the concerns raised by the protesting paramedical and non-medical staff would be addressed.”