EDITORIAL: Its mission statement posted on its website is “to unite to protect our rights.” But the Young Doctors Association (YDA), particularly its Lahore chapter, has been infringing, time and again, upon the rights of others, agitating for pay rise or some other issue.
In December of the year gone by, in two-week-long protests, young medics closed down outpatient departments of two major government-run hospitals, resorting to violence against poor patients’ attendants who insisted on seeking treatment for their loved ones.
Reportedly, some club-wielding YDA groups also threatened the administrate staff of dire consequences if they dared to stop the campaign. The then caretaker provincial government stood its ground and managed to restore normality. Some YDA members, though, are again busy creating trouble at the Services Hospital.
In yet another ugly incident on Thursday, this time at the Mayo Hospital, a group of YDA activists entered the purchase department to get hold of record of the medicines procured from pharmaceutical companies. Refusing to hand them the record, the female staff rightly told the intruders that they were not authorised to give it to anyone except the administration.
At this, the YDA men turned aggressive. They forcibly evicted the female pharmacists and locked the facility, chasing the frightened women all the way to the chief executive’s office where they sought safety.
A day earlier, the same group also forced their way into the office of additional medical superintendent (purchase) Dr Samira Zahra.
She rushed to the adjoining MS’s office to avoid getting hurt. They followed her there, too, threatening to lock both her and the MS’s office if she was not transferred. Later, the management held a meeting to resolve the issue, and in a perceptible concession to YDA decided to withdraw the additional charge of AMS (administration) from Dr Zahra.
It is not difficult to figure out that these young medics acted the way they did at the behest of certain blacklisted pharmaceutical companies. In it, they are said to have the backing of certain political parties.
At play as the AMS’ case shows are also professional rivalries. All this comes at a cost to safe and efficient delivery of service to patients. Those involved tend to forget that the primary duty of medical professionals is to provide selfless care to those in need.
Unfortunately, most practitioners seem to see their profession only as a money making enterprise. Be that as it may, it is about time the government took strict action against YDA hooliganism. They can press their genuine demands in a peaceful manner, but have no right to deny attention to patients, or to harass others doing their duty. People within hospital administrations who gave in to their demands either out of weakness or to favour vested interests should also be held to account.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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