Patients suffer as medics continue strike at Children’s Hospital

LAHORE: Following the death of a nine-year-old child, the situation remained tense in Children's Hospital.

The strike had been going on since the scuffle between the doctors and family members of the deceased child took place two days ago. The doctors also boycotted services at the outdoor ward. The parents, who brought their children from far away for treatment, had to return or go to other hospitals after spending the whole day under intense heat. The strike also badly affected treatment of child patients admitted to indoor wards. The young doctors demanded punishment to those who attacked the doctors. The doctors should be provided with full security during their duty. The administration should admit their incompetence for failure to provide a peaceful working environment in the hospital, doctors said.

While addressing a press conference in Children's Hospital on Wednesday, President YDA Punjab Dr Shoaib Niazi said that the government did not heed grievances and problems of the doctors' community even after young doctors protested on the roads of Lahore the other day.

The government's slogans of best health facilities proved failure as the condition of the hospitals worsened. The slogans of quality healthcare are mere promotional campaigns without any veracity, he said.

He demanded that the government must provide facilities for the patients in hospitals. Billions of rupees have been wasted in the name of revamping hospitals, while in reality, doctors are forced to treat three patients on a single bed.

Currently, he said a massive brain drain in medical sciences has been happening in Pakistan, he said, adding, "Violence against doctors has become a norm, but there is no provision of security for doctors in hospitals.”

Dr Shoaib Niazi said that the Children's Hospital has been without water for two days, and operation theaters have also been closed.

The emergency ward was attacked and doctors were tortured by the deceased patient's family members, but the police registered a weak FIR, he said. The YDA president said that YDA will not accept the inquiry into Children's Hospital incident conducted on behalf of secretary health.

"Only a portion of the CCTV footage was circulated to the media to portray doctors in bad light," he said, adding that an independent inquiry committee should be formed to investigate the incident.

"If the government tries to fix doctors without a proper and impartial inquiry, the doctors will not sit quietly," he warned.