Punjab doctors continue protest, calls off in-door strike in solidarity with Lahore blast

LAHORE: Grand Health Alliance of Punjab doctors continued their protest on Thursday for the eighth day across all government hospitals against the Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) Reform Act.

As per details, paramedical staff and nurses shut down the out-patient departments (OPD) of public hospitals in all major cities, including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, Sargodha, and Faisalabad, to protest the proposed privatisation of the government-run hospitals.

However, the doctors’ association called off their strike for the in-door services of the hospital in solidarity with the victims of Lahore suicide blast, in which 11 people were martyred outside the Data Darbar shrine on Wednesday.

The Grand Health Alliance has said it won’t allow the government to privatise government hospitals and threatened to boycott emergency wards of the hospitals, if their demands are not met.

In February, doctors across Sindh also went on a strike for days to press the Pakistan People’s Party led government for a pay raise at par with their counterparts in Punjab.

Later, the protest was ended as the government announced to fulfill demands of the protesting doctors.