KP paramedics postpone strike till Feb 22

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Paramedics Association has postponed till February 22 the strike scheduled to commence from Monday in all the medical and health institutions of the province and agreed to find out a negotiated settlement of all their issues with the government.

The association office-bearers from across the province held a meeting in Peshawar on Sunday. They thanked the provincial government for resolving a longstanding issue of service structure and approving the Health Professional Allowance for paramedics and promising to resolve issues related to the People’s Primary Health Initiative (PPHI).

The paramedics said Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had agreed with them to cancel all transfer orders of the health employees, including office-bearers of paramedics. However, they complained that the transfer orders of their people hadn’t been cancelled. They said that all of them had been transferred to remote areas of the province.

The paramedics said they would avoid confrontation with the government and therefore would continue provision of services to patients. They formed 11-member committee for holding talks with the government. Luqman Gul will head the committee while Sharafatullah Yousafzai, Paramedics Association president from Mardan, Afsar Zaman, divisional president Bannu, and others would work as its members.

It was decided to use legal and political means for resolving issues with the government and chalk out future strategy from February 22 if the government didn’t cancel transfer orders of their leaders.

The nursing staff and paramedics observed partial strike at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Peshawar on Friday despite reaching an agreement with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On Thursday, health workers called off their three-day strike at the government-run tertiary care hospitals. They threatened to suspend health services in the public sector medical and health institutions if the government didn’t cancel transfer orders of the 16 workers before 12’O clock today, February 15. Those transferred from the LRH included nursing superintendent, office bearers of nursing and paramedic associations, head nurses and senior technicians.