Things you don’t want to know about young doctors strike in Lahore.

The young doctors’ strike in Lahore has entered a critical stage. The government cracked down on young doctors, arresting several key activists of Young Doctors Association. The government tried to settle the matter with less logic and more haste. The doctors remained persistent on demanding an equal service structure equivalent to other government employees in the province. I visited Lahore’s Services Hospital on Sunday a day before the police raided the premises to harass young doctors. I talked with several young doctors. What they told me was opposite to what the media was showing on the behest of the Punjab government. Below is the list of questions that I wanted to ask young doctors.

Why young doctors are not treating patients?
All hospital wards were open and running except Out Patient Departments, during the last one month of young doctors' strike. There was no sign of any strike in Service’s Hospital’s medicine emergency ward, which I visited. I tried to convince a doctor friend to accompany me for lunch, which she refused citing work load. According to her, the excessive work load was because all OPD patients were being checked in emergency wards. The strike was symbolic. Young doctors were doing a symbolic strike by checking patients in strike camps setup outside OPDs or in other wards.

Is government giving handsome salaries and perks to doctors?
No. Contrary to the Punjab government’s tall claims, a young doctor gets a meager pay. In some instances, young doctors who have passed their specialization exam are forced to work for free. A doctor joins the profession in grade-17 like other government employees, but remains in the same grade even after 25 years of service whereas all other government employees get promotions periodically.

Do young doctors earn millions in private practice?
No. If a doctor is earning millions or even hundreds of thousands, then why would he or she would work in a government hospital for a few thousands. The doctors who earn a lot are not young doctors. They are senior doctors with years of experience. If I want to visit a doctor, I would go to the most experienced private doctor in my city and not to a young doctor.

Do young doctors do private practice?
No. A young doctor has tough timings. Every week he or she is bound to remain in the ward for 24 hours. A young doctor can’t do private practice. Those who do private practice are not young doctors.

Are senior doctors’ supporting young colleagues in the strike?
Yes. The senior doctors have suffered a lot in their early times. The community as a whole want better working conditions. A lady doctor, Dr Sadia, who has been working in the Services Hospital for 21 years, have recently resigned from grade BPS- 17 - which she joined two decades ago. She has joined a private hospital. None of the senior doctors have condemned the strike.

Are more people dying because of strike?
No. Death is a rare thing in OPDs. No one dies of stomach ache, head ache and minor infections. The few casualties reported by the media are normal natural deaths. There were no deaths during the last one month of doctors' strike. Deaths started to occur after police raided the hospitals to arrest young doctors on night between Sunday (1-7-12) and Monday (2-7-12).  

Will government hire 2000 doctors tomorrow?
No. There are no 2000 young doctors in the province. Those working in private hospitals will never opt for the government service because of poor pay structure. The organization of doctors working in rural areas have refused to replace striking doctors even on the incentive of one extra salary.

What recourse the government have?
The Punjab government has to accept the doctors’ demand. The government has become short of logic and arguments and that’s why it is resorting to coercive measures.

Who is a young doctor?
This is a young doctor.

PTI rally versus PML-N rally

I can I will! courtesy AFP.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) mass congregation at Minar-e-Pakistan is the largest by all social and politcal standards of Pakistan. The PTI is a 15-year-old budding party, who has never been in the power not even in the opposition in the elected houses. The PTI has arranged 50,000 seats for the people. These seats were filled several hours before the congregation started. Various media assessments state the number of audience around 70,000 people in the PTI rally.

This number is huge when all these people come on their own. On the other hand, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz used all unfair means to gather people in their rally two days ago. All the government departments, revenue officials and bureaucracy were ordered to bring buses laden with people carrying party flags and banners. The bureaucracy in Gujranwala alone arranged 400 buses to fill the PML-N’s Lahore rally. However, all the people in the PTI congregation came on their own, paid their own fare, ordered the party flags themselves. When Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) fills its rallies by threat, the PML-N owes its large political gatherings to Patwaris (revenue officials), the PTI’s Lahore congregation is mammoth because it was filled in by the people of Pakistan.

Past, present and future in two seconds

What I had not seen. 

The doctor at Services Hospital Lahore was scribbling a subscription. A young boy of a poor gardner was resting on a hospital bed. The whole wardroom was quarantined for dengue patients. The doctor was wearing a mask. The television set outside the wardroom was running the news of Lahore Executive District Officer Health Dr Fayaz Ranja’s sacking over his failure to control the spread of the dengue fever.
The doctor gave the subscription to the boy’s father. The father rushed outside the wardroom to bring medicines from some nearby medical store.

What I did see. 

I had dropped my sister outside the student hostel of Services Institute of Medical Sciences at around 8pm. She was carrying a lot of luggage in the car’s trunk. She went inside the hostel and sent a servant to carry the luggage. I opened the trunk lid of my car for the servant to pick the luggage. He lifted a bag and spotted some cash and a folded paper on the road. He bent down to pick the cash. He was cunning. He had discreetly hidden the money beneath the paper before putting it in his pocket. My sister had seen the money. She inquired from me through gestures that was that my money. I replied in negative before ensuring that my wallet was in the car. The servant put the paper in his pocket and picked the remaining luggage and went inside.

What I would not see. 

The father of the boy suffering from dengue fever reaches a medical store and checks his chest pocket. Seeing nothing in the pocket, he becomes nervous. He looks at the floor of the store, believing that the cash and subscription might have fallen there, but finds nothing. He checks his side pockets, which also turns out to be empty. He runs back, scanning the road from medical store to the hospital. He reaches the wardroom where doctor is awaiting him. The doctor rebukes him for not bringing the life saving medicines and tells him that his son would die without medicines.

Remembering teachers at Punjab Law College

Before my memory fades away, I have decided to write about my law college teachers. I remained a student of the Punjab Law College from 2006 to 2009. I was taught by scores of teachers during these three years. These three years were part of formative years of my life. I have categorized my law teachers in three universal categorize: the ugly, the okay and the good.
Before branding my teachers with these tags, let’s discuss the national attitude towards teaching. The teaching had become the least sought after job after a few decade of the formation of Pakistan. Anyone who could not become doctor, engineer, civil servant or successful person would become a teacher.
The profession, let’s call it profession for easy reference, became plagued with failed personalities. These teachers were devoid of dedication but knew something about their subject. Things worsened gradually. Today’s teachers don’t know dedication and their subject altogether. Most of teachers that I had to bear were lifeless people, having no aim in life except the end of the month.
Coming back to Punjab Law College. We had some teachers in the college’s permanent faculty and some in the visiting faculty. The visiting faculty members were slightly better than the permanent teachers. They had a lot of exposure, were well-read, were well-travelled, knew their subject well and encouraged academic debate during lectures.
Retired government employees i.e. retired judges, army officials and bureaucrats were exceptions in the visiting faculty. They encouraged flattery, would tell about the superman tasks they did to save the system (aka Pakistan) and would discourage questioning during the lectures. Their favourite weapon in this regard was the heart-burning one-liner. "Baita jitni app ki umer hai, utna mera tajurba hai." (Kid, my experience is more than your age). The one-liner is quite potent to discourage anyone from asking any question during the rest of the teacher’s term. And besides they have an over-hot temper which boils quite often.
The permanent faculty had its own issues. Most of permanent faculty members were young struggling law graduates. No profession is as tough for the novices as practicing law. Been there, done that. Initial years of practice are labourious but rewardless. Most young lawyers either quit the profession, joining civil service, becoming judges or teachers in law colleges.
They are given a meager pay for a hectic 10-hour shift. And most of the time they are given subjects they hated during their student-days.

The ugly: 
There was a teacher in our permanent faculty who was so confident of his speaking skills that he would speak nothing but non-sense for good 50-minutes. Such was the level of his confidence that he would do it often to kill the time. He would often disclose before us that he hated teaching. Incompetent, but honest. I had to bear him for two years.

The Okays: 
Most of permanent faculty members fall in this category. They were in their formative years. Had so many of inferiority complexes, insecurities but were hard workers. They would prepare the lectures in advance. Ms Shaista, Mr Azeem Farooqi are the two names that I can remember know in this list. They were hardworkers, did not mind admitting their ignorance on law points. They would often note down questions and answer them in the next lecture.

The best: 
Mr. Anwar taught us English Jurisprudence. He was a handsome person by every standard. He knew his subject like the back of his hand. He would give the most accurate and satisfying answer to any question thrown at him. Anwar would do brain storming during the lecture and would also encourage the same. I never met him after my graduation but most of his lectures are still fresh in my mind. He encouraged me to read my text books. He would make the whole class think. I owe him a lot.
Ms Hadiya Awan was and still the principal of our college. She taught us Law of Contract. She was soft spoken, loved to laugh and had a beautiful laughter. She looked like everyone’s dream teacher. She would painstakingly explain basic concepts to late comers, without showing any annoyance. She was a dedicated teacher and knew everything about anything. Hadiya had this ability to explain eveything in its most easiest form. She had sacrificed her family life over her dedication to her profession. She was good with remembering names. We never had to repeat our names to introduce ourselves. And for those of you, who have not seen her, I have found this link http://www.plc.edu.pk/faculty_principal_lhr.asp

Postscript: The next post will discuss my class fellows, and yes, including the front row buxom girl we all loved to ogle at.

I pass LLB

Like always, friend Zaheer telephoned and told me that the Punjab University has declared the result. He broke this good news that I have passed the exam. Like always, I doubted his statement, saying "are you joking?". Like always, he said, "No I am not joking".

It took me eight years to finish my studies. I had left my home in 2002. I lived and studied in Islamabad and Lahore. Lahore made me what I am today. It gave me confidence and identity. I made a lot of friends in the city. I roamed on its roads. I discovered bookshops. I jogged in its parks. I studied Lahoris and the only thing I am proud to have learned in Lahore is human psychology. 

PS: Zaheer has failed in one subject. I wish him good luck.

Contraceptive for Talibanisation

Few days ago, I went to Services Hospital Lahore to give money to a relative who had telephoned me for. He was in an emergency so I did not change the dress and went there in shorts. When I was about to leave the hospital premises, I bearded man came and introduce himself as doctor (name withheld) and told me in a strict tone that a girls? hostel is nearby and I should not come in this dress. My dress only revealed part of my legs below knees. The doctor believed that I was seducing the girls with my bare calves.I was annoyed as he violated my liberty. I decided in a split-second to ask him what?s wrong with this dress but he walked past hurriedly. I call this mindset Talibanisation. One does not have to sport a unkempt beard, wear shabby clothes or tot an Ak-47 to be a Taliban. The Taliban thinking emerges when we stop respecting or listening to other people?s opinion and force them to accept ours. What happened in Swat when some men tried to introduce social reforms as per their interpretation of Islam. People complied for sometime but later retaliated beyond the expectations of these social reformists. Before the operation in the valley started, various markets in the Malakand region would sport banners barring the women from coming to markets and ordering barbers not to shave beards. Those who violated the Taliban code faced barbaric punishments. Women were also killed on charges of prostitution by groups of young men gathered and armed by the Taliban. The interpretation of the religion is one?s opinion. Various sects have opposite views and interpretations of a certain issue and both the interpretations are not wrong.What one professes is between him and Allah. The problem starts when the interpretation-cum-opinion is preached to other people; and they refuse to accept it, inciting religious hatred.The sensible solution to religious hatred that comes to saner minds is keeping one?s interpretation of religion to one?s self because debates on religion are mostly inconclusive.