At least seven patients died at state-run healthcare facilities in Pakistan's Punjab province after doctors stopped treating patients on Monday to protest the arrest of about 50 of their striking colleagues in Lahore.
Police have arrested some 50 young doctors across the province since Sunday night as part of efforts to break up a two-week-long protest aimed at pressuring the Punjab government to provide higher salaries and more perks.
TV news channels beamed dramatic footage of police conducting raids in hospitals and detaining doctors.
The provincial government also terminated the services of 24 doctors.
The doctors' strike has brought the healthcare system in the province of 90 million people to a standstill.
Two children reportedly died at Mayo Hospital in Lahore and Allied Hospital in Faisalabad after doctors stopped treating patients in emergency and indoor wards to protest the arrest of their colleagues.
In a related development, Lahore Police arrested four doctors and registered a case of murder against them.
The doctors were arrested after a man registered a complaint with police regarding the death of his child at Mayo Hospital.
The arrested doctors on Monday produced before a judicial magistrate, who remanded them to police custody for four days.
A senior police officer, who did not want to be named, said: "Most of those arrested are office-bearers of the Young Doctors Association. Police will be deputed to those hospitals where doctors have stopped work even in emergency wards".
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of former premier and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, is bent on taking action against the striking doctors and has sought support from the Army Medical Corps instead of paying heed to their demands.
The army has deputed about 150 doctors to hospitals across the province.
The army doctors were welcomed by patients who had been languishing without care for the past few days.