About 92 young doctors resumed their duties following the Punjab government's crackdown against the YDA leadership, while the death toll on account of non-availability of medical treatment has reached 12. According to reports reaching here, as many as 92 young doctors have resumed their duties in Rawalpindi's Benazir Bhutto Hospital, 43 in Gujranwala while 18 in Multan.
During the last 24 hours, four more patients, two in Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology and one each in Jinnah Hospital Lahore and Nishter Hospital breathed their last reportedly due to non-availability of doctors. A representative of the senior doctors said that the hospital administrations were not responsible for the deaths occurred during the strike of young doctors. After getting an undertaking not to be part of the strike, the Punjab government has released 33 doctors who were put under house.
The doctors who were released signed an unconditional apology and also assured not to take part in strike in future. Those who were released included Dr Zaheer Abbas, Dr Mohammad Umair, Dr Shamshad Ali, Dr Kamran Farooq, Dr Khalid Jamal, Dr Umair Saleem Wark, Dr Mohammad Nadeem, Dr Gulfam Ahmed, Dr Sajjad Baloch, Dr Shaid Iqbal, Dr Ahsanullah, Dr Imran Chatta, Dr Adil Ameen, Dr Hassan Tariq Bhatti, Dr Noman Rafi, Dr Jawwad Pervez, Dr Amir Asghar, Dr Farhad Sahi, Dr Sarfaraz, Dr Lucas Verma, Dr Yasir Qayum, Dr Waseem and Dr Jibran Sindho.
These doctors also met Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Advisor to Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique and assured to perform their duties diligently for the benefit of ailing humanity. Meanwhile, with a view to facilitating the patients at OPDs, the Punjab government has decided to set up medical camps at government hospitals, the spokesman said. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Rana Sanaullah said that new doctors were being inducted to overcome shortage of doctors.. He assured that genuine grievances of doctors would be redressed.
On the other hand, a group of doctors along with their family members including children held a demonstration here at Liberty Chowk to protest the arrests of doctors by the provincial government. Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa told reporters here on Tuesday that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif should now accept the responsibility of deaths of patients in hospitals.