LRH employees threaten protest if demands not met

PESHAWAR: The employees of Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) on Saturday asked its administration to stop harassing them or else they would stage a protest on March 7.

The concern was expressed and warning issued in a meeting of the Health Employees Coordination Council held with its president Syed Roidad Shah in the chair.

The participants said that all the employees were cooperating with the Lady Reading Hospital administration for better management and providing good possible healthcare facilities to patients but lamented that the hospital administration were harassing the employees on various pretexts.

They said that the hospital administration hadissued notices to various health employees associations to vacate their offices inside the hospital building and a hostel, which, they said, was deplorable. 

The participants said these offices and hostel had been allotted to the employees and associations for setting up their offices.

They said the paramedics had earlier postponed a planned strike for their demands initially to January 15 and later for indefinite time as a goodwill gesture but instead of appreciating their cooperation the hospital administration started victimising the employees.

The participants said that they did not want any confrontation with the administration and instead wanted to solve their problems through peaceful means and through negotiations.

They alleged that the administration was trying to shift the blame for their failure to employees but they would not accept it come what may.

The participants of the meeting asked the administration to withdrew the notices issued for vacating the offices and a hostel, pay allowance to paramedics, class-IV and other health employees, cancel the transfers of office-bearers of health employees associations, adjust the grade-16 and 17 paramedics in the next grade, regularise the services of Medical Teaching Institutions, convert their CP fund into GP funds and others.

They threatened to stage a protest outside the building of the provincial assembly on March 7 and would decide a future course of action if their demands were not accepted.