UNCALLED FOR STRIKE BY YOUNG DOCTORS

Young doctors in the Punjab went on an indefinite strike in support of their demand for s service structure. The strike continued for around two weeks in which poor patients suffered. Government of Punjab was unmoved. Rather it was forced to take drastic action when the doctors refused to end their unjust and anti-people strike. The provincial Government sought the services of the Army doctors and recruited fresh medical graduates and inducted them in service to break their illegal strike. The strike was not against the Government of Punjab, but the poor patients and the unjustifiably punished the poor patients. According to reports published in newspaper, eight patients died as a result of strike in one city of the Punjab. The Punjab Government came out with clear statement that the doctors in the grade 17 are getting more than double salary than other cadre of the Government. It also questioned the legality of the strike forcing the Government to come into action and make some arrest. By and large, the public servants, particularly doctors, have no right of collective bargaining and thus they have no right to strike. Public servants are barred from industrial action and resorting to strike to create problem for the common people, mainly patients coming to hospitals from far flung areas. We opposed the strike by doctors and other public servants in Balochistan and asked the Government to ban all organizations of the public servants barring them from collective bargaining and industrial action. It is an iron that mere 11 employees of WASA, Quetta, blocked the main Zarghoon Road for several hours and punished more than a million people for some hours merely they have some grievance on their internal promotion. We must condemn the police inaction not to clear the road for normal traffic by chasing the 11 WASA employees away from the main road. They should have been arrested and sent to jail so that others should not dare to block the roads on such ridiculous demands. The ban on all organizations of the Government servants is need of the hour to enforce minimum discipline or ending the administrative anarchy.