Doctors' strike continues to pile up miseries for patients.

TIMERGARA -- Patients and their relatives suffered as doctors in Timergara, Landi Kotal and Jamrud boycotted duty on Saturday in protest against what they called the government's plan to privatise public sectors hospitals by introducing the district and regional health authorities. However, medical cover was provided at the hospitals' emergency units.

In Timergara, patients and their relatives came out on the road in front of the DHQ hospital as the doctors' boycott and protest against the government continued for the fifth consecutive day.

Over 150 patients and their relatives blocked the Timergara-Dir road for some time and demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to immediately hold talks with the striking doctors and resolve their grievances.

They also chanted slogans against the government for its failure to handle the doctors' issues. The doctors working at the public sector hospitals in parts of Lower Dir boycotted their duties at outpatient departments, operation theatres and wards.

The doctors' strike on the call of KP Doctors Council entered the fifth consecutive day in Dir. Lower Dir district nazim Mohammad Rasool Khan, Balambat tehsil nazim Imranuddin and other local leaders visited the protest camp of doctors at the DHQ hospital, Timergara, and expressed solidarity with them.

Talking to mediapersons, they said the demands of doctors were genuine while the government had kept silence on the matter. Representatives of the Young Doctors Association Dr Nadar Khan and Dr Rafiullah said that their protest would continue until the government accepted their demands.

They said the doctors would also boycott emergency duty if the government took action against any of their colleagues in the province. The doctors said that the government wanted to privatise the public sector hospitals in the garb of district health authority. They demanded of the government to review its plan to form district...