Govt accepts protesting doctors’ demands

Karachi
The Sindh government conceded to all four demands of Karachi’s protesting doctors on Monday – compensating the families of medical professionals killed in violence, issuance of arms licences to doctors and the permission to carry weapons, trial of suspects arrested for killing doctors in military courts, and provision of security to the healthcare fraternity.
Doctors had boycotted out-patient departments and clinics were kept shut across the city on February 2 in protest against the killing of doctors in recent times and the threats they faced from extortionists and kidnappers.
The provincial government issued a notification announcing payment of compensatory money to the families of the doctors killed in recent years.
However, the government and doctors’ associations are yet to agree on the amount of this money.
“We demanded Rs10 million for each family but the government is not agreeing to this amount,” Dr Mirza Ali Azhar, the general secretary of the Pakistan Medical Association, told The News. “We are negotiating with the government over this issue.”
Dr Azhar said the doctors’ associations were now demanding the provision of a plot or a government job for the family of each murdered doctor if the compensatory money would be less than Rs10 million.
“We have been asked to provide the details of the doctors killed in the city and also submit related documents including the FIRs and family records so that the money could be disbursed.”
The PMA official said the government had also agreed to issue arms licences to doctors and give the permission to carry it.
“The government has also assured us that people arrested for killing doctors would be tried in military courts.”
The PMA general secretary said the government and the law enforcement agencies had assured the doctors’ associations that they would take all possible measures to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals in the city.
Dr Azhar said if the demands would be met in the coming days, it would show that the provincial government was serious in making efforts for the welfare of doctors and there would be no need to protest and boycott health services.