Nurses come on roads in Peshawar to protest shifting of college control

PESHAWAR: The nursing community came on the roads on Wednesday to protest the KP government decision of taking the control of Graduate Nursing College from the Health Department and placing the same at the disposal of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH). The government had last month declared the college a subsidiary of the LRH under the MTI Act.

The decision had triggered resentment from the Young Nurses Association which had called a protest scheduled for Wednesday. A large number of nurses started gathering at the college. The LRH administration closed the college and the hostel in a bid to fail the protest. It had deployed heavy security at the entrance to the hospital and the gates were closed.

The pedestrian bridge that links the Nursing College and the hostel with the hospital was shut as well. The nurses staged the protest within the college. Later, they took out a procession that marched to the GT Road next to the historic Balahisar Fort.

The protesting nurses were carrying placards and raised slogans to condemn the decision on the college status and called for reversing the move. The nurses association’s representatives said the Health Department would have no role in the college after it was placed under the MTI hospitals.