Sources privy to recent developments said various channels could have been used to engage the doctors on strike and bring one of the worst strikes in the health sector’s history to an amicable end. They said the negotiations held between Senior Adviser to the Chief Minister Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa and the young doctors were “fruitful”, but the health secretary “pulled some strings” at the eleventh hour, further worsening the situation.
They said the pay raise pledged by Khosa was not honoured, while the secretary himself later announced an increase in the doctors’ salary from Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000 for house officers and postgraduate trainees. Moreover, they said, senior doctors who had taken initiative to resolve the issue could have been initially asked to engage the young doctors to show some flexibility, but this opportunity too was mishandled, resulting in senior doctors also threatening to go on strike over the secretary’s “attitude”.
They said that handling the crisis through stern administrative measures such as issuing termination notices to doctors was also a brainchild of the health secretary. The government had accepted the demands of doctors in the past, and “there is no reason for showing such stubbornness this time … the health secretary is constantly trying to portray that things are normal, which is a misrepresentation of the facts,” they added.
Dr Rai Ahmad, who attended the meeting with the Cabinet Committee, said the meeting with Khosa was very “cordial” as all outstanding issues including raises, pay protection, security at hospitals, free treatment for doctors and their families and the service structure were resolved.
“Zulfiqar Khosa pledged a Rs 20,000 raise for postgraduate trainees, MOs, SRs and Rs 12,000 for the HO, claiming it was his mandate given by the chief minister and even said the chief minister will also announce something more and not less for the doctors … however after the doctors’ meeting, the health secretary held a separate meeting with the chief secretary and later informed us that the chief minister was not coming, using the pretext that doctors had released it to the media,” he said.
He said that no one had reservations with Zulfiqar Khosa or his commitment or personality. Even the Medical Teachers Association (MTA) has termed the ongoing conflict a “clash of egos”. MTA General Secretary Dr Amjad said the MTA took the initiative to resolve the crisis on its own, however the doctors and the government had both refused to budge after days of efforts. He said further that the secretary was responsible for the situation, as there was no health minister in place.
“If the provincial health sector is running fine the secretary should be given an award, but if it is facing some crisis then obviously he is responsible,” he said. “It is an issue which has been mishandled from both sides … [there is] inflexibility and intolerance on both sides … We consider the medical profession blackened after the current strike because we joined the service after taking an oath to save lives,” he added.
Meanwhile the strike continued for the 37th day in all major hospitals across Punjab as even the MTA expressed its inability to resolve the issue because of the “stubbornness” of the two sides. However, sources privy to developments revealed further that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had called a meeting of professors from all major teaching hospitals on Wednesday regarding the ongoing strike, which has become one of the worst crises of its kind in the province.
In Islamabad, doctors of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and Polyclinic announced that they were withdrawing their strike call after assurance by the health minister that their demands would be met. The doctors, however, warned that they would resume their strike if their demands were not met within five days.
