Senior doctors from major medical associations have warned of a two-day nationwide strike on Nov 1 and 2 unless the government ends Federal Board of Revenue (FBR, the federal tax authority) raids on private clinics and stops police from registering criminal cases against doctors in alleged medical negligence disputes.
The warning came at a press briefing held on Thursday at the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) House in Karachi, after discussions on the pressures facing healthcare providers. Representatives of the PMA, the Young Doctors’ Association, the Private Hospital & Clinics Association of Pakistan, and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan took part.
If the strike goes ahead, the groups said, all medical services except emergency care would be suspended across the country.
Why doctors say they are striking
PMA Centre President Dr Izhar Ahmed Chaudhary said doctors were working in a “hostile environment” and argued that Pakistan’s healthcare system was near collapse—not for want of skill or dedication, but because practitioners were being targeted, criminalised, and humiliated. He said physicians feared police raids, arbitrary arrest, and public violence.
He objected strongly to the FBR’s push to put retail-style point-of-sale systems into private clinics and consultations, calling the approach flawed and unethical. Coercive raids on medical facilities, he said, treat doctors like tax evaders and create intimidation rather than cooperation.
FIRs, costs, and doctors leaving
PMA Centre secretary general Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro said extra administrative burdens on clinics push up costs for patients already facing high inflation. He also described an “alarming trend” in which bad outcomes—often linked to medicine shortages, late arrival at hospital, or wider system gaps—lead quickly to police first information reports (FIRs) against treating doctors under Sections 302 and 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Branding a complication or natural death as murder, he argued, was a grave injustice and could discourage doctors from taking on critical cases. He said the climate was driving doctors to leave Pakistan in large numbers, citing a lack of security and dignity rather than any lack of attachment to the country.
What the associations are demanding
The speakers called for an immediate halt to direct FIRs against medical professionals, saying legal action should proceed only after review by a certified, independent medical board. They urged parliament to pass a Healthcare Professionals Protection Act without delay and asked for institutional, legal, and physical security at medical facilities nationwide.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- Thursday: Medical bodies brief the press at PMA House in Karachi and announce a conditional Nov 1–2 strike.
- Nov 1–2: Planned two-day countrywide suspension of non-emergency services if demands are unmet.
- Nov 28: PMA Central Council meeting scheduled to decide the future course of action.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Doctors ke organisations ne kaha hai ke agar hukumat un ki baat na maane to 1 aur 2 November ko mulk bhar mein do din ki hartal ho sakti hai. Woh FBR ke clinics par raids aur police ke FIRs band karwane chahte hain. Hartal mein emergency ke siwa baqi ilaj band ho sakte hain. Aam logon ko non-emergency appointments aur check-ups mein rukawat ka samna ho sakta hai.
