PESHAWAR: A strike by doctors at the Hayatabad Medical Complex over a parking row with employees of the provincial tuberculosis control programme has left patients without elective services since last Thursday.
Health secretary Shahidullah Khan, who had ordered an inquiry into violence over the issue, said the matter would take a few more days to resolve as protesting doctors were unwilling to resume duties at the HMC, one of Peshawar’s three largest public hospitals.
“It [issue] will take some time to conclude,” the secretary told Dawn.
With elective services suspended since Thursday, the doctors examine patients needing emergency care only.
Interestingly, the institution-based practice by doctors is available in the evening, with patients getting them examined after paying consultation fees.
Only emergency care available; secy says issue will take few more days to resolve
“The strike has not only benefited doctors doing IBP as private medical practitioners at HMC but the beneficiaries include private hospitals located in the nearby Phase V of Hayatabad Township as well,” a senior doctor told Dawn.
He said he saw many patients go to private hospitals due to the strike as they couldn’t return without examination by HMC doctors as they had rented vehicles to get there from different cities.
HMC director Dr Sher Zaman said that inquiry would take one week to complete.
Only the gynaecology and paediatrics departments remained open during the strike.
On Tuesday, a trainee medical officer of the HMC had a brawl with a Class-IV employee of TCP over car parking that caused physical aggression between them.
The next day, the TMO was invited to TCP offices to resolve the issue but the situation turned violent after a heated discussion, with both sides starting assaulting each other, leaving doctors injured. Soon HMC became a battleground as its and TCP employees had heated exchanges that led to violence.
The HMC medical director wrote a letter to the health secretary demanding closure of the TCP’s offices and action against its employees. The TCP offices, which stand on the HMC’s premises but are under the administrative control of the health department, were closed temporarily.
However, the strike, which started on Thursday, continued as doctors wanted to extend it next week.
Young Doctors Association president Dr Asfandyar Bittani demanded the termination of the TB programme’s director over “involvement” in violence against HMC doctors.
“We demand the relocation of the TCP’s offices from the HMC’s premises to allow the building to house the first-ever bone marrow transplant unit in the province,” he said.
Dr Bittani said the YDA would never make any “compromise” on its principled stand and would ensure punishment of those who tortured doctors.
Office-bearers of the Provincial Doctors Association and Insaf Doctors Forum also supported the strike and called for legal action against TCP employees.
The TCP officials demanded an impartial probe into the incident.
“Our 12 employees were illegally taken into custody from offices on Wednesday and were freed late at night as no FIRs were registered against them,” a senior official of the TB programme said.
He said the closure of TCP offices, which handled TB-related matters from across the province, hampered services.
Senior doctors said the ultimate sufferers of the situation were the patients as they continued to pay for treatment in private hospitals or under IBP at HMC instead of free or subsidised care at the hospital in the morning shift.
Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2025