Doctors strike work in Balochistan citing oppressive security presence in hospitals

New Delhi, March 30: Doctors in Balochistan have decided to stop work at government hospitals due to the presence of security forces. This is in continuation of their emergency strike since last week.

At a press conference in Quetta, the Young Doctors and Paramedical Staff Association said they are striking work as the security forces had arrested peacefully protesting doctors and imprisoned them indefinitely, reported The Balochistan Post.

The Balochistan government and the doctors have been at loggerheads for nearly seven months over demands for better facilities in government hospitals. They have been demanding medicines for patients, modern medical equipment, improvement in the conditions of hospitals and increased security for doctors and paramedical personnel.

The doctors also allege that the government is trying to privatise public hospitals.

Pointing out to high levels of under-development, Geo-political analyst Mark Kinra told India Narrative that the overall head-count poverty in Balochistan stands at 71.2 per cent, the highest amongst all provinces in Pakistan. He adds that more than 80 per cent of the population living in rural areas is below the poverty line. "If privatisation of health happens, the general public will not be able to afford private hospitals", says Kinra.

Since October 2021, the doctors have been indulging in both-talks with the authorities as well as strikes at hospitals to push the government for improvements in the healthcare system, reports the Dawn newspaper.

With not much progress in discussions with the government, doctors blocked roads in December 2021 leading to the houses of the chief minister and other government officials in Balochistan capital Quetta. The paramedical and nursing staff also have been supporting the doctors' stir which has been taking place in the city's Red Zone where protests are banned.

The stir has continued intermittently since then with clashes taking place between the security forces and the doctors. Now, the doctors allege that the government negotiated with them and agreed to fulfil their demands, but went back on its promises.

The doctors also want the health secretary to be replaced and their arrested colleagues to be released from prison.

Large parts of the Baloch society remain in turmoil due to the overwhelming presence of the Pakistani security forces. Students have been regularly boycotting classes to protest against "enforced disappearances" of students. Families have been protesting in Islamabad against State-sponsored kidnappings and torture of Baloch people by the Pakistani army.

Kinra says: "According to a case study on Healthcare in Pakistan's Violence-affected Areas, published in BioMed Central's Conflict and Health journal stating that the health and education infrastructure was non-existent in many parts of the province".