Proposed privatisation of hospitals: Health dept employees’ protest causes traffic chaos

LAHORE:The Grand Health Alliance (GHA) comprising health professionals from across Punjab held a protest in front of the Punjab Assembly against the privatisation of hospitals, basic health units and rural health centres.

The protesters include young doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, who were raising slogans against the proposed privatisation. The police personnel were deployed on all sides of the Punjab Assembly, while massive traffic jams caused severe trouble for the commuters on The Mall.

The lady health workers, nurses, paramedics chanted slogans, urging the government to withdraw its decision of privatising basic health units (BHUs) and rural health centres (RHCs). The demonstrators condemned the government for enabling economic killing of government employees through privatising. They demanded to immediately halt privatisation of the primary and secondary healthcare institutions.

The Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab President Dr Shoaib Niazi said that the medical professionals were most peaceful, law-abiding and taxpaying citizens. He said that officers bent upon snatching the rights of government employees and misleading Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz by giving false information.

He said that the privatisation had been started in Jinnah Hospital by establishing Maryam Nawaz Health Clinic. He said that the 'entire government, including CM Maryam Nawaz, ministers and secretaries have failed in protecting the rights of medical community.' 'If our demands are not met, then the medical community will withdraw services in the hospitals,' he threatened.

President Lady Health Workers Rukhsana Anwar warned the government not to push them against the wall lest they were forced to take extreme steps. 'If our demands are not met, then the entire responsibility will be on the government for its consequences,' she warned.

Senior GHA leader Dr Salman Haseeb said that the protests will no longer back down rather they will hold a sit-in at Faisal Chowk. 'If the government has made an agreement with the IMF that salaried class will be punished while MNAs and MPAs salaries will be increased by 200%, then it manifests government's priorities,' he added.

Dr Salman said that they were not afraid of prisons as they had been arrested several times before. The government has already deprived many healthcare professionals of their employment. The para-medical staff were pushed out of their job and now they have no other way except to hold peaceful protest. 'If the violence is forced upon us, the medical staff will abandon people emergency wards,' he warned.