LARKANA:Members of Young Doctors Association (YDA) continued their boycott of OPD duties at the Paeds Medicine Department, of the Chandka Medical College Hospital here on Tuesday against what they called blackmailing by a so-called social activist, making video of a senior doctor and making it viral on social media. They held a protest demonstration at the main entrance of the hospital and then staged a sit-in while holding large placards in their hands and shouting slogans against the high-handedness of the activist.
Dr. Fazal Khoso, Dr. Fahim Khushk, Dr. Zaman Malano and others said that four days ago a so-called social activist entered the hospital and forcibly made a video of the Head of Department, Unit-III, Dr. Shanti Lal and made it viral on social media in which he alleged that the relevant doctor is not examining the child patients coming to the hospital but he is advising them to come to private medical centre which is baseless and concocted allegation against highly respected senior specialist doctor of children who has been serving the indoor and outdoor patients wholeheartedly.
They said we doctors serve the ailing humanity without any discrimination, caste or creed but through a conspiracy we are being blackmailed by unscrupulous persons who are unaware of the medical treatment facilities and rush of the patients at the hospital. They said this attitude will never be tolerated and demanded stern legal action against the so-called social activist named Arsalan Habib Chandio who seems to be an agent of a mafia. They also demanded that such acts should be stopped forthwith in public sector hospitals so that doctors could be able to discharge their fundamental duties diligently, honestly and dedicatedly.
Meanwhile, ailing children and their parents suffered a lot as none of them was examined by the protesting doctors for the second consecutive day. They demanded that if the doctors protest is true then action should be taken against the accused or else doctors should be directed to discharge their duties without fear and favour so that poor patients should not suffer for negligence of others.
Dr. Hassan Chandio, Additional Medical Superintendent, Children Hospital, told this Scribe on Tuesday that every fifth child patient is from Larkana and all four others belong to other districts. They reach here from far flung and remote areas of several districts, Dr. Chandio continued, hence they should not suffer in this scorching heat. He said the father of the accused activist has contacted him and told him that he will come to the protesting doctors on Wednesday and apologize for the behaviour of his son which he will never repeat again.
He said 27,466 patients attended OPD of this Hospital including ChildLife Foundation in the month of August alone out of which 3190 kids were admitted, 918 x-rays carried out including 441 ultrasounds. He said that these statistics show that Chandka Children Hospital is working smoothly for the betterment of the poor poverty-stricken patients of its catchment area of more than seven nearby districts. He hoped OPD will return to normalcy tomorrow (today).