Protesting lady health workers in Multan demand pending salaries

MULTAN: Scores of lady health visitors (LHV) and other employees Monday blocked Multan-Muzaffargarh Highway demanding their pending salaries.

The protesting workers assembled outside Multan Institute of Kidney Diseases on Sher Shah Road and marched towards Multan-Muzaffargarh Highway. They disrupted traffic on the road. Talking to reporters on the occasion, representing the protesters Bushra Khanum, Nayab Gul, Anila Saba and others urged the government to regularize them and release their pending salaries.

The workers protested against the government plan of dismissing 6,000 employees from jobs, rendering services for the last 15 years. They protested new hiring replacing them. The employees were working under the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department in the maternal and child healthcare program of IRMNCH.

Reportedly, the employees recruited in the remote backward areas under extremely difficult conditions and settled in the ruins and deserted centres in the forests, these employees have not received their salaries for the last eight months. The health department under the guise of black laws has hinted at laying off 6,000 employees and an advertisement has been issued for their recruitment, the protesters said.

All employees were given a contract until December 31 but later refused to extend it. For a long time now, monitoring officers, lady health visitors, security guards, nurses and drivers have been on duty round the clock in various remote health centres across Punjab.

But they have always been deprived of basic rights, such as extension of contracts, fixed salaries, extremely strict duty period and non-regularisation of employees. Based on SNE, the health department has completely ignored and made the employees mentally ill, they said.

Some of the employees of the program were regularised by the previous government while the rest of the employees including some social organisers, lady health visitors, security guards and drivers have not been regularized till now. All the employees serving under the program have called for closure of health centers and sit-in and protest outside Punjab Assembly on February 21.

Employees warned that if they are not regularised and the atrocities committed against them are not rectified, they would continue protest for an indefinite period.

The workers demanded the Punjab Chief Minister, the Health Minister and Secretary Primary and Secondary Health Care Punjab to immediately regularise the remaining employees and save them from mental anguish.