Doctors decry violence, lack of security
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) expresses grave concern and condemns the horrific incidents of violence against health workers in Pakistan, as highlighted in a recent report by the Health Patients Association in disagreement of the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC).PMA Secretary General Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Shoro said the PMA has always highlighted medical safety issues.
“We continue to call on the government to provide protection for health workers, but unfortunately health workers face physical attacks as they carry out their noble duty to save lives. “Association of Private Hospitals and Clinics president Dr Syed Junaid Ali Shah and secretary Dr Farhan Essa strongly condemned the assault on Dr Saad Rafiq, a relative of a deceased child undergoing treatment at a children’s hospital in Lahore. They say the premature baby was admitted to a children’s hospital, but despite the doctors’ tireless efforts, the baby did not survive.
Family members brutally attacked Dr Saad Rafiq as his skull was fractured and he lay fighting for his life in the ICU of Lahore General Hospital. Doctors, on the other hand, say their seniority has been severely hampered by the abolition of 1,400 seats in medical college (MTI) hospitals. “Some of these posts have been shifted to other posts leading to shortage of doctors in the hospital across the state,” said a doctor, adding that the doctors’ association had asked the government to rescind the decision taken by the previous PTI government.
“The board made this decision and it is very unfortunate that the Director of Health and Hospital Administration is silent on these illegal and unreasonable measures,” he said, adding that the patient load is increasing every year with n number of facilities ‘… doctors should be increased in all MTI hospitals but the government districts are doing the opposite.”This negatively affects the seniority of doctors and also creates problems for patients,” he said, adding that the provincial medical association noted massive protests over the decision and demanded that the interim government take the decision.
