QUETTA: The Young Doctors Association (YDA), Balochistan, has put off its protest for three days after Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani assured it of solving all problems of doctors.

Dr Rahim Khan Babar, spokesman for the YDA, said that a delegation of the association led by its president Dr Yasir Achakzai met the chief minister at the Bolan Medical Complex Hospital.

He said Mr Alyani had been informed about problems the doctors were facing in the current emergency situation and that the chief minister ordered the health authorities concerned to provide required facilities to doctors so that they could continue their work smoothly.

He said the chief minister had issued directives to the special secretary to take necessary action for solving the problem of doctors’ shortage in hospitals.

The spokesman said CM Alyani had assured the delegation that all facilities would be provided to doctors.

Dr Achakzai on the occasion said, “We are always ready for talks with the government”. But, he added, his association was not ready to hold talks with people who were reluctant to understand problems of doctors.

“Around a dozen doctors and technicians who were performing duties in the Sheikh Zayed Hospital have been infected by Covid-19,” the YDA spokesman said, adding that they were now in isolation at their homes.

He said on the assurances of the chief minister the YDA had decided to postpone its protest for three days, expressing the hope that he would take issues of doctors seriously and that some practical steps would be taken for their resolution.

He said Balochistan Assembly Deputy Speaker Sardar Babar Musakhel and Provincial Minister for Social Welfare Asad Baloch were present in the meeting and they took the issues of doctors seriously and vowed to play role in their resolution.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2020