Doctors begin two-day nationwide strike across Pakistan today, with routine care suspended and emergency services continuing
Doctors across Pakistan have begun a two-day nationwide strike on 1 and 2 November, suspending outpatient departments, elective surgeries and routine diagnostic services at public and private facilities, while emergency services remain operational.
Doctors across Pakistan have begun a two-day nationwide strike today, 1 November, that will run through 2 November, suspending routine medical care at public and private healthcare facilities while keeping emergency services running. The action, called by the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and supported by other medical bodies, is expected to affect patients seeking routine consultations, planned procedures and diagnostic tests across the country.
Under the strike call, outpatient departments (OPDs), elective surgeries and routine diagnostic services are to remain suspended during the two days. Emergency services at government hospitals will continue to operate, so patients needing urgent medical attention should still be able to receive emergency care. Doctors' organisations have urged patients with routine appointments to contact their hospital or clinic before travelling, as schedules for non-urgent care may change at short notice.
The strike was announced at a press conference at PMA House in Karachi on Thursday, where senior doctors representing several professional medical bodies warned of a two-day countrywide stoppage if the government did not address their grievances. The meeting decided that during the strike, all services except emergency care would remain suspended, a position later repeated in provincial circulars and statements from medical associations.
At the heart of the dispute are the doctors' objections to taxation and enforcement measures affecting the medical profession. The associations are demanding an immediate end to raids by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on private clinics, and a halt to the registration of criminal cases against doctors over alleged medical negligence following complications in treatment. They have also raised complaints about police harassment of doctors and about what they describe as a lack of institutional, legal and physical security at medical facilities.
Taxation is a central grievance. Doctors have protested against the mandatory point-of-sale system and against the treatment of medical services as retail transactions, measures they say are inappropriate for healthcare and have fuelled the confrontation with the tax authorities. In Balochistan, the provincial medical association framed its support for the strike explicitly as opposition to what it called unjust taxes imposed by the FBR and the Balochistan Revenue Authority.
The provincial response has been coordinated. PMA Balochistan announced its full support for a province-wide strike beginning 1 November after a joint meeting of doctors' organisations chaired by its general secretary, Dr Zarak Muhammad Shahi. PMA Punjab has likewise backed the nationwide call, issuing a circular saying clinics and hospitals would be closed on 1 and 2 November in protest against FBR policies affecting doctors, while the Young Doctors Association in Sindh has called for collective action across the province on the same two days.
The two-day strike is the latest step in a campaign that has built up over weeks. On 30 September, doctors held a nationwide shutdown of private outpatient departments, hospital consultations and routine diagnostic services over the same tax and regulatory issues. That was followed on 11 October by an All-Pakistan Doctors' Convention in Gujrat, where around 500 senior medical professionals and provincial representatives adopted resolutions calling for action by the federal government, the FBR and provincial healthcare commissions, and set 1 November as the deadline for concrete policy changes.
Doctors say the dispute is about professional dignity as much as about tax. Their statements repeatedly link the strike to workplace security, protection from violence, and respect for professional and legal rights, arguing that a safe and secure working environment is essential for delivering healthcare. The associations have said they exhausted avenues of dialogue with the FBR and the finance ministry before resorting to strike action, a claim that underlines how entrenched the disagreement has become.
For patients, the practical effect over the next two days will depend on where they seek care and how fully the strike is observed locally. Routine consultations, scheduled investigations and non-urgent procedures are the services most likely to be disrupted, while emergency rooms and critical care are meant to continue. Hospitals and clinics are expected to reschedule routine work once the strike ends, although doctors have not yet said what will happen to appointments missed during the stoppage.
What happens after 2 November remains open. Doctors have said the future course of action will be decided at a PMA Central Council meeting on 28 November, leaving open the possibility of further action if their demands remain unmet. For now, the focus is on whether the government responds during the two-day window, and on how patients across Pakistan cope with two days in which routine healthcare, in much of the country, is effectively on hold.
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