Punjab Doctors on strike, patient sufferings pile up

AAJ TV

The Young Doctors Association of Punjab continued to strike for the eight day adding to the sufferings of patients across the province, Aaj news reported. According to our correspondent, the patients coming from parts of Punjab as well as KP, Balochistan are complaining since doctors are not even attending the emergency patients which come to hospital with the last hope to save their lives. The patients continued to suffer on Thursday, the eight day of the OPD strike in Lahore, with paramedical staff also absent from teaching hospitals. “This is the third day that I am coming to the hospital for the treatment of my daughter,” said Muhammad Irfan, who was waiting outside Services Hospital “She isn’t well and the doctors aren’t admitting her. Who will be responsible if something happens to her?” A senior doctor at Lahore General Hospital said that there should be an inquiry into whether private hospitals were supporting the YDA strike, as they were benefitting from the closure of public hospitals. Meanwhile, YDA leaders said that the strike would continue till the withdrawal of transfer orders of the doctors who were transferred by the health department. Talking to APP, YDA spokesman Dr Nasir Abbas said that the association would stage sit-in in front of public sector hospitals on April 25 for withdrawal of transfer orders of doctors. The YDA leader also demanded to grant autonomy to all the public sector health institutions across the province.