No talks with YDA, say health officials

LAHORE:The Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department (SHC&MED) has decided to hold talks with the medical community by excluding the Young Doctors Association (YDA) to resolve the issues in public sector hospitals in the province.

'There will be no talks with leaders of Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab,' health officials said, adding that the government would form a committee comprising medical staff, vice chancellors of various medical universities, representatives of Young Nurses Association (YNA), and former leaders of YDA from Lahore and Faisalabad.

'The government will listen to the problems of the medical community having no political agenda, and will try to resolve the issues to benefit the entire community,' the officials said and added that the government would not hold talks with any mafia, which holds the healthcare system hostage for personal benefits.

Police action against protesting students condemned

The Young Doctors Association (YDA) has condemned police ‘violence’ against medical students peacefully protesting outside University of Health Sciences (UHS).

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the YDA Pakistan General Secretary Dr Salman Kazmi has condemned Punjab police for attacking peacefully protesting medical students outside the University of Health Sciences and brutally torturing them. He said that it was the legal and constitutional right of every citizen of the state to peacefully protest for their legitimate rights. The entire medical community is not only worried about the oppression and fascism that has been inflicted on medical students, but also strongly condemns it. The YDA Pakistan also demands not only immediate protection to the protesting students, and resolve their legitimate demands vis-a-vis anomalies in results of medical examinations.