KP proposed health policy protested

BATKHELA: The doctors and other staff of the Batkhela Hospital on Monday staged a rally and boycotted duty to protest the provincial government’s proposed health policy.

Holding placards and posters inscribed with slogans of their demands, the protesters said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had devised a policy to create district health authority and regional health authority, which was considered a bid to privatize the public sector hospitals in the province.

Speaking on the occasion, Grand Alliance chairman Dr Arshad Nawaz, president Muhammad Younas, Muhammad Nawaz, Rafiullah and others said that they would never accept the privatization of government hospitals, urging the authorities to reverse the decision.

They said that they had started a one-hour token strike on daily basis on the call provincial leadership of the alliance and would extend its duration if their demands were not met.They threatened to stop the healthcare delivery system, including emergency, polio and Covid-19 if the proposed policy for health was implemented.