KP health workers continue protest despite agreement with government

PESHAWAR: The nursing staff and paramedics continued their partial strike at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) on Friday despite an agreement with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

On Thursday, the health workers called off their three-day strike at the government-run tertiary care hospitals.The nursing staff, paramedics and sanitation workers, observed partial strike at the LRH and staged a protest against the transfer orders of 16 health workers from LRH to remote areas of the province.

The health workers threatened to suspend the health services in the public sector medical and health institutions if the government didn’t cancel the transfer orders of the 16 workers by February 15. Those transferred from the LRH include nursing superintendent, office-bearers of nursing and paramedic associations, head nurses and senior technicians. The government had taken punitive action against these employees under the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act 2015 and Essential Services Maintenance Act for suspending health services. According to health workers, the chief minister had agreed with them to cancel all transfer orders of the health employees, but leaders of different employees’ associations had been transferred to remote areas. They warned of suspending services in all hospitals of the province from Monday if the government didn’t cancel their transfer orders.