LRH Class-IV employees continue protest

PESHAWAR: The non-technical Class-IV employees of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s largest and oldest health facility, the Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, continued their protest for third day on Tuesday. They had been on strike since Friday against the hospital administration and boycotted services.

The employees were given a green belt within the hospital premises to record the protest in a peaceful way.

They prolonged their protest and accused the hospital administration of creating unnecessary problems for them.

According to the protesting employees, the hospital administration had kept the government in the dark about status of the employees as, they claimed, the government had planned to regularise their services.

They alleged that the hospital administration had not sent their names to the relevant authorities to regulate their services.

The hospital administration, on the other hand, said the employees had initially made demands related to their jobs but later changed their plans after some political leaders visited them.

The said the employees now demanded removal of the hospital staff, particularly managers, and replacement of the MTI Law and dissolution of the board of governors.

They said some of the employees were issued show cause notices for not attending their duties for days without any intimation or prior application.

“The hospital administration formed a committee comprising representatives of the Class-IV employees to investigate such cases when some of them remained absent from duties without any application. And then committee should suggest a punishment to them,” an official of the hospital administration said.