Paramedics announce protests from 10th

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Paramedical Association on Saturday announced a province-wide protest plan in the public sector hospitals of the province from August 10.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the provincial office-bearers of the paramedics. Provincial president of the Paramedical Association, Syed Roeedar Shah, chaired the meeting, which was attended by all divisional heads of the association. They accused the provincial government of taking no interest in finding solution to what they called genuine problems of the paramedics. Roeedar Shah, while speaking on the occasion, said they held a similar meeting almost a week ago and presented their demands before the government. He said the provincial government had issued a notification for ratio enhancement and restructuring of paramedics in 2018 and they were still waiting for the government to ensure promotion of paramedics on upgraded positions.

He said they had held a number of meetings with government officials and despite several reminders, the bureaucracy was yet to issue a notification for up-gradation of the paramedics. Roeedar Shah said that due to wrong policies of the government, several senior most paramedics after serving for 30 and 35 years had retired in their initial scale-12 and many other would soon retire in same scale. He said paramedics had been the backbone of the health delivery system but the government never recognised their services. He said they had been serving patients in remote areas and difficult circumstances but the government had denied them their due rights.

The paramedics said that before going on strike, they informed the government about their demands and waited for more than a week to see if they would take note of their genuine problems. They announced to begin their token protest from August 10 in which paramedics across the province would wear black ribbons on their arms. On August 12, they said, paramedics will start their protest in Hazara Division and will boycott of their services in all the public sector hospitals. The paramedics will then extend their protest to Bannu on August 18, Mardan division on August 22, Malakand division on September 3, Kohat division on September 8, Dera Ismail Khan division on September 15, and Peshawar division on September 25.