Several doctors fainted and had to be taken to emergency care on the second day of the Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) Punjab’ hunger-strike camp established outside Services Hospital Jail Road on Tuesday.
YDA Punjab spokesman Nasir Bokhari and members Ahmad Badar, Zahid, Ahsan, Usman Dar, Ayaz, Abdul Hanan, Sajid and Zulqernain fainted and were injected fluids to maintain their blood sugar levels.
“The YDA is protesting for the rights of patients and doctors. We have decided to sacrifice our lives for this cause. We will run this camp for as long as we can. Those who are shifted to emergency are in high spirits and plan to come back as soon as their condition improves. The number of protesting doctors will increase with every passing day and we are determined to stay here until our demands our met,” said YDA senior member Dr Amir Bandesha.
The strikers played national songs and kept asking about the condition of their colleagues. Many lay in blankets and brandished victory signs.
“Those whose sugar level drops to 60 are kept under observation and if their sugar level dips below 50 they are administered fluid or taken to emergency. Several young doctors have had to be shifted to Services Hospital Emergency in ambulance as they were unable to walk,” said a YDA member present at the camp.
YDA President Dr Javid Aheer said young doctors were making history by standing up for the rights of poor patients.
He said young doctors from other cities were also determined in their support for the YDA cause and some would come and join the camp in Lahore.
Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Health Khawja Salman Rafique said the government was concerned about the hunger strike. He said the government had been in contact with the young doctors since the Gujranwala incident. He said the government is still ready to negotiate with the young doctors but they should accept their mistakes in Gujranwala.
Commenting on the claim that the young doctors were fighting for the rights of poor patients, Rafique said that when doctors went on a strike for 37 days, some of the patients died from the lack of treatment. He said that doctors who occupied the Gujranwala medical superintendent’s office and had misbehaved with their seniors should remember that the publics tax monies paid their salaries.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 6th, 2013.