PMA ends protest after Chief Minister's assurance

KARACHI - The Pakistan Medical Association called off its protest movement after the chief minister assured it that doctors would be provided with security immediately.

Presiding over a meeting at Chief Minister’s House, Qaim Ali Shah assured the association that doctors would be provided with arms licences after consulting the law-enforcement agencies. He also promised that the heirs of doctors killed in Karachi would be compensated with money after the approval of the provincial cabinet.

Shah directed the IGP and the additional IGP Karachi to coordinate with the PMA and other doctors for feedback on the threats they faced. The chief minister also told the officials to take pre-emptive action against the people targeting doctors. Shah said that after the army operation against terrorists in North Waziristan, many of them had reached Karachi and resumed their activities in the city. The chief minister said the provincial government had started the capacity-building process of police and increased their budget to Rs60 billion.

PMA president Dr Idress Adhi briefed the chief minister on the threats being faced by doctors. Health minister Dr Jam Mehtab Dahar said that he was working to resolve the problems of medical fraternity.  The IGP said many people involved in the killing of doctors and police officers had been arrested On February 2, the PMA and the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association had boycotted outpatient departments of government-run and private hospitals in Karachi and kept clinics closed to protest against killing of doctors.