Tag: young doctors

  • Young doctors boycott hospital services across the country

    The Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) on Wednesday boycotted Out-Patient Department (OPD) services across the country, Daily Times reported.
    They are protesting against torture of their colleagues in Islamabad during a protest outside Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC).

    According to the YDA spokesperson, only emergency services are being provided at the hospital. The move comes a day after police manhandled their fellow doctors in the federal capital during a protest against National Licensing Examination (NLE).

    They criticised the government and the doctors said that this is the first time in the country’s history that the police brutally attacked doctors.

    The protests are causing severe difficulties to the patients coming to the hospitals.
    Services Hospital Lahore have suspended their services.

    In Faisalabad, the doctors from the YDA platform have suspended OPDs and also the operation theatre services at the Allied Hospital. They also staged a protest and strongly condemned the torture and arrest of their colleagues in Islamabad. They vowed not to accept NLE law at any cost.

    Hundreds of young doctors across the country have been protesting against the PMC. The doctors have demanded that the compulsion to sit the National Licensing Exam should be withdrawn.

    The Pakistan Medical Commission has announced that in order to practice in Pakistan, doctors will have to take a licensing exam after completing five years of education.

    Young doctors say the additional examination was unfair as they had already passed the same exam to obtain their MBBS degrees.

    On Tuesday, at least 20 doctors were arrested after they tried to enter the PMC building. The Islamabad police baton-charged the protesters.

  • Top doctors, healthcare professionals ask for strict countrywide lockdown

    Top doctors, healthcare professionals ask for strict countrywide lockdown

    Senior doctors and top healthcare professionals issued a stern warning on Wednesday and appealed to the federal and provincial governments to reconsider relaxation in lockdown given that they fear a spike in coronavirus cases in the country. Doctors said easing relaxation could prove disastrous for Pakistan.

    Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Dr Saad Niaz said that from April 16-April 21, cases have increased around 40 percent.

    “If we don’t strictly enforce lockdown measures, the projected number of coronavirus cases may go up to 70,000 by May 15,” he stated.

    Dr Saad also said that we don’t have the testing capacity. “We are not safe. These are just myths. If there had been no lockdown initially, things would have been worse…Wards are already saturated. We have more patients under the age of 60 than in western countries. We have to realise that we don’t have enough healthcare facilities to cope with cases…In fact, severity is much more than what we think.”

    He said that more than 162 healthcare workers have been tested positive for COVID-19 in Sindh alone. “Don’t take this lightly based on myths. Neither is there any cure nor do we have the capacity to cope with the cases. Lockdown helped contain the spread. The only thing that can help is complete social distancing and lockdown. We know that at least 200 people have died of coronavirus in the last month alone. We don’t want to get to a point where we will be treating people on the roads or deciding who to save – the 35-year-old patient or the 55-year-old one. We are taking risks. It is very depressing for us to see that everything is being opened while we are at the frontline of this war against corona.”

    Watch the complete video of doctor’s press conference here.

    Meanwhile, Dr Atif Siddiqui said that doctors are there for you but please stay at home. “We are running out of beds. We need to understand why the number of cases are increasing.”

    The list of demands by healthcare professionals included :

    • Strict enforcement of lockdown and prevention of congregation of all sorts
    • People will have to cooperate. Do not leave your houses
    • Request the business community to reconsider opening businesses
    • Appeal to religious scholars to review decision to keep mosques open
  • Young doctors boycott treatment of coronavirus patients to protest police brutality

    Young doctors boycott treatment of coronavirus patients to protest police brutality

    Young doctors in Quetta have announced boycotting all services, including the treatment of coronavirus patients, after their colleagues were assaulted and arrested by police for protesting against the lack of medical equipment being provided to them.

    Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) President Dr Yasir Khan announced the boycott after police resorted to baton charging and arresting several doctors for staging a sit-in in the red zone near the Balochistan chief minister’s official residence.

    The young doctors were protesting against the lack of safety kits for doctors and paramedical staff treating COVID-19 patients at Quetta’s Sheikh Zayed Hospital.

    The action from police reportedly came following the failure of negotiations between the protesters and the government to end the sit-in.

    Addressing a press conference after the police action, YDA office bearers announced a province-wide suspension of duties and demanded that the government released the arrested doctors immediately.

    They had on Sunday announced to continue protesting against the lack of safety kits for medical staffers after at least 11 doctors had tested positive for the deadly pandemic in Balochistan.

    At least 44 doctors on Saturday were suspended for allegedly refusing to perform duties at Pakistan-Iran border town of Taftan amid a health emergency in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.