Doctors’ strike

Doctors in government hospitals across Khyber Pukhtunkhwa have gone on strike. The simmering issues including the posting of junior doctors on senior professorial slots, domicile based transfer of doctors and decision of privitisation of district level government hospitals by extending the jurisdiction of MTI Act exploded when the personal guards of Health Minister Dr. Hisaham Inamullah demonstrated an open vendetta by committing violence against Dr. Ziauddin inflicting head and hand injuries on him

The young specialist and general cadre were not happy when MTI Act was enforced in the seven teaching hospitals of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa by the previous PTI government because it deprived them of job security, pension and commutation benefits. The provisions of the Act make all jobs in government hospitals as contractual employment. The incumbent provincial government took an ill-timed and ill-conceived decision of extending the Act to District Headquarter Hospitals which, in addition to making the prospects of job security bleak for young doctors, will render surplus senior general cadre doctors who are working on the administrative posts of District Health Officers and Additional District Health Officers. After the constitution of District Health Authorities, these administrative posts will stand abolished. But the Health Minister, while demonstrating calculated ignorance, claimed that if the reservations of doctors about the District Health Authorities proved correct then he would resign which he will never tender.

The fallout of privitisation of teaching hospitals under MTI Act is now appearing as the cost of indoor treatment in teaching hospitals is on the rise and will go up further when funding from the government will stop in the near future. The facility of Insaf Health Card is currently financed by the Insurance Company and its fate may not be different from “President Obama Health Care” which dismally failed in a prosperous and advance country like the United States. Moreover, the district level government hospitals lack the infrastructure, equipments, trained doctors and paramedical staff. which is a prerequisite for the extension of MTI Act. Most of these hospitals are functioning like referral centers. It is also a bitter fact that except Auyb Teaching Hospital other hospitals of this category refer certain indoor patients for treatment to the MTI hospitals in Peshawar. Then why the government is adamant on replicating the failed experience in the District Headquarter hospitals?