Paramedics’ strike troubles patients

LAHORE
The paramedical staff and health support staff of teaching hospitals under the banner of Punjab Paramedical Alliance (PPA) held a rally and staged a sit-in at Club Chowk in front of Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Monday for service structure, regularisation and health professional allowance.
The paramedics following in YDA’s footsteps inflicted pain on patients in hospitals and general public on main thoroughfare of the provincial metropolis. The paramedics are trying to pressurise the government by holding boycott of duties in hospitals and blocking The Mall.
The paramedics’ strike caused a great deal of problems for patients in hospitals as they withdrew services from OPDs and operation theatres. The poor patients coming from far-off districts were the worst affected as paramedics were not available to assist doctors and nurses in hospitals.
The paramedics were carrying banners and placards inscribed with their demands and chanting slogans against the government for allegedly depriving them of their rights and condemned the government for not implementing service structure despite the chief minister’s directives almost four years ago.
PPA Chairman Malik Munir said the services had been withdrawn from outdoor wards, indoor wards and operation theatres.
Earlier, the paramedics and health support staff from all over Punjab reached Club Chowk to stage a sit-in. The paramedics of Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Punjab Institute of Mental Health, Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Services Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital joined the rally. Besides, the paramedics from Lahore General Hospital, Children’s Hospital and Mayo Hospital joined the protest. The closure of roads during the rally from Jinnah Hospital to Club Chowk and blockade of The Mall created massive inconvenience for people who remained stuck in traffic for hours.
The PPA leaders said the Punjab government had not given service structure to grade-1 to grade-4 employees, while implementation on promised service structure of grade-5 to grade-17 paramedics was stopped and health professional allowance had also not been given. They demanded the government regularise employees of Boards of Management, daily wagers and work-charge employees in hospitals.
exploitative system: Working class has urged the policy makers to implement the principles of Dr Allama Iqbal, who yearned for abolishing exploitative system based on feudalism and capitalism, and establish an egalitarian society respecting the dignity of working class and peasants.
That is why Quaid-e-Azam had struggled for establishing a democratic welfare state based on equality and running national public utility entities, including electricity, railways, steel, and banks in public sector.
The present rulers should enforce these historic principles and learn from rich experience of People’s Republic of China which provides cheaper electricity to one billion consumers without outages. Instead of electricity privatisation, it should introduce reforms to raise its efficiency and develop hydel and gas fired thermal power station in public sector.
These demands were raised in a resolution passed in a meeting of Wapda workers held Monday at Bakhtiar Labour Hall, presided over by veteran trade union leader Khurshid Ahmed, General Secretary of Union. Rana Abdul Shakoor, Muzaffar Mateen, Sajid Kazmi, Maqsood Ahmed, Rana Muhammad Akram, Javed Ahmed and trade union representatives attended the meeting.
Khurshid Ahmed urged Wapda Authority to grant honoraria pay to employees on the principle of Equal Pay for Equal Work and expressed concern over the rising accidents of line staff due to unsafe working conditions and lack of provision of standard safety equipment and overburdening existing line staff due to ban on recruitment for years.
He demanded the prime minister to raise workers’ wages and pension at least 30 percent keeping in view high cost of living and fix minimum wage at Rs20,000. It decided to observe International Labour Day with fervour in support of the just demands of the working class.