PESHAWAR, JUN 13 (DNA) – During a protest by the Young Doctors Association (YDA) at Hayatabad Medical Complex on Tuesday, police baton charged the protesters and detained five during the protest.

The doctors had announced to close the different wards of the hospital including the out-patient department (OPD). However, police stopped them from doing so.

A heavy contingent of police was deployed outside the wards to control the situation. The doctors tried to walk past the police officers but it resulted in a heated argument and police ultimately baton-charged the protesters to disperse them.

Section 144 has also been imposed in the area since the last few months. As a result, the police also took five suspects into custody.

Speaking to the media, YDA President Dr Gulab Noor Afridi said “If Imran Khan can protest in the Red Zone [in Islamabad] then why can’t the doctors protest at the hospital’s lawn?”

“Protest is our constitutional right,” he said, adding that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police is much worse than the ‘Gullu Butts’ of Lahore.

Later, Dr Afridi was also detained by the police.

Previously, the YDA have protested outside Lady Reading Hospital and had even set up a hunger strike camp near Sooriya Pul.

The young doctors’ demands include monetary compensation for the martyred doctors, no political interference in the hospital management, security for doctors along with time-scale promotion and professional allowance.

In Rahim Yar Khan, young doctors held a protest at the Sheikh Zayed hospital after one of their colleagues was arrested on corruption charges.

The doctors surrounded the office of the anti-corruption department and held a protest. During the demonstration, one doctor fainted and was then taken to a hospital in a police vehicle.=DNA

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