Doctors boycott OPDs against Balochistan Minister
Health Desk:
Doctors in Balochistan boycotted Out Patient Departments (OPDs) in protest against a provincial minister. The Young Doctors Association (YDA) spokesman, Dr. Rahim Babar said OPDs closed down in all government-run hospitals in Quetta to protest against the minister. “We will continue our protest till registration of FIR against armed guards of a minister”, Dr. Babar said.
The YDA on Monday in a statement said armed guards manhandled a senior professor of the gastrology department in the Bolan Medical College Hospital (BMCH) the other day. Despite written complain against armed guards of the minister, Police are reluctant to register FIR, Dr. Babar complained. The YDA said so far neither the chief minister nor any other high up has taken the notice of the incident. “Minister and guards are not above the law”, Dr. Hafeez Mandokhail the Chairman YDA said.
Patients remained the worst sufferers
Patients remained the worst sufferers of doctors boycott of OPDs in government-run hospitals. “Whey we are being punished for the crime of others”, Muhammad Hashim, an attendant of a patient told Quetta Voice. Like Hashim, scores of patients and attendants desperately waited for hours in Quetta’s civil hospital for medical check-ups. “I am a poor person I cannot pay a fee in the private clinic of doctor”, Hashim lamented. However, they left the hospital in frustration.
Government fails to provide security to doctors: YDA laments
The YDA said the Balochistan government has failed to provide protection to doctors serving the ailing humanity. “Such incidents of manhandling and using abusive language against the doctors is an order of the day”, Dr. Babar said. The YDA has threatened to intensify the protest if FIR was not registered against the armed guards of the minister.
Daily thousands of patients from various parts of Balochistan come to the province’s largest government-run hospital BMCH and Civil Hospital for medical treatment.
Doctors boycott OPDs against Balochistan Minister
