Senior Resident Doctors of SKIMS were on strike recently. Dr Waseem Ahmad started writing on this subject from Aug 15, 2009 and continued with the same subject for many days. It seems that the gentleman is at war with every one; the Government, the patients, their attendants, the 90% staff at SKIMS and whosoever comes in between. His clarification that the strike had to take place because the genuine demands that they have been pursuing since long, were not meted out; is understandable. I sympathise with them for being content with low wages, long duty hours, and heavy rush of patients to take care of and so on. But, myself having been in this Institute for a pretty long time I disagree with him that they have to take 90% of the patient care. It’s always a team of people who run an Institute, the doctors need the nursing staff, and both of them need a proper structure where patients can be treated. A sweeper, a plumber, a nurse, a doctor, an electrician, a gardener and that man wearing a helmet from the Engineering wing; all of them together make a hospital where Dr Waseem and a 1000 other people work with a clear ambition: that a patient should get proper care! I am confident that the views expressed in his articles are his own and not representing the view of every other senior resident doctor.

The society is being misled by statements like “nursing staff humiliates us and they draw twice our salary.” The Nurse is the backbone of a hospital. She is the one who implements your prescription, she is not a “lower staff” (what a description of one’s colleagues!), she is governed by a different line of authority but she faithfully obeys your prescribed treatment. How much salary each one of us draws is no secret. We are not the most favoured of the employees. I don’t know if any nurse really draws Rs 44000 p.m. as mentioned by Dr Waseem but if anyone who may have perhaps come to superannuation and done a 100 more trainings etc. has reached that status, it would be advisable for him to properly bring their plight to the notice of the authorities instead of wailing over someone’s getting “too much”.

Since the mission is to serve the patients, we do many a job other than the one for which we get salary. You know Blood Transfusion, I/V lines etc are not “our job” but the whole society knows, we do it all the time. Your question as to why the Institute became defunct during your strike despite the other “90% staff” being present there, the simple answer is that it’s a team that runs the show, not the doctors alone or the nurses alone or the nursing orderly alone. We all work with team spirit and you better join the team instead of wasting your precious capability to probe into other fellow’s salary.

The Medical Board does not authorize nurses to treat patients. If it did, you would see that we can run the hospital during your strike periods too. Most of the nurses have done their B.Sc or M.Sc plus seeking some professional qualifications. But they do not get more than what they deserve.

Dr Waseem should understand that an institution can not run by humiliating the rest of 90% of the staff. We have to work as a unit, share each other’s joy and pain, try our best to do justice to the cause for which we are here and give every one full respect, realising that every single person, be it a doctor or a sweeper or a patient. Everyone has a role to play and everyone must.

(Asmat Farooq is Cl Instructor College of Nursing, SKIMS asmat3419@gmail.com)

Lastupdate on : Mon, 7 Sep 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 7 Sep 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 8 Sep 2009 00:00:00 IST