MINGORA: A protest was staged here on Monday against the decision to convert the Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital into a Medical Teaching Institute (MTI).
Civil society, doctors, nursing staff, and paramedical personnel jointly staged a massive protest against the government’s decision.A protest camp was set up in front of the main gate of Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital, where demonstrators raised slogans against the authorities. Due to the protest, all OPDs of the hospital remained closed, and doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff observed a complete strike.
Protesters symbolically displayed a DHQ Hospital signboard outside the hospital and declared the MTI law as anti-people.Addressing the protest camp, speakers said that Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital is the only lifeline for millions of patients in the entire Malakand Division.
The said converting it into an MTI would push people toward expensive, commercialized treatment, which could be a matter of life and death for poor patients.The speakers termed the MTI Act as anti-people, undemocratic, and exploitative, and said it would not be accepted under any circumstances.
They demanded that the government immediately reverse its decision to convert Saidu Sharif Hospital into an MTI, warning that otherwise the protest movement would be intensified.A large number of civil society representatives, patients’ relatives, and members of various organizations participated in the protest camp, expressing strong opposition to the government’s decision.
