Come what may, LHWs are here to stay

The lady health workers (LHWs) vowed on Wednesday to continue their province-wide demonstrations and sit-ins until their services are regularised and they are given their salaries of the past five months.
The decision was announced by Lady Health Workers Union Finance Secretary Farzana Yaqoob during a protest held outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC).
Carrying banners and placards, hundreds of LHWs had gathered outside the KPC from where the protest rally started marching towards the Sindh Governor’s House. However, at least three of the protesting healthcare staffers were injured and five more lost consciousness when the police fired teargas shells and baton charged the protesters to stop them from moving towards the Governor’s House.
This was the second instance in a week in which law enforcement personnel resorted to pressure tactics to disperse peaceful protesters.
Talking with Pakistan Today outside KPC, Lady Health Workers Union (LHWU) Finance Secretary Farzana Yaqoob said that over 24,000 LHWs in the province have been protesting for the past couple of years for their job regularisation. “The Sindh Health Minister and Secretary are depriving the poor LHWs of their fundamental rights,” she added.
“The female healthcare professionals were appointed in 1992 in all districts of the province on contractual basis; however, their jobs have still not been regularised due to political interference, and no authority is ready to pay any heed to their genuine demands,” Yaqoob said. “When the LHWs raised their voice against the injustice, the authorities concerned have withheld the issuance of salaries of the past five months, forcing the women into a critical situation.”
The LHWU finance secretary said that under the rules and regulations, any person appointed on contractual basis in any government department shall be regularised after a service of at least three years. “[However], the LHWs are being treated in a step-motherly way,” she added.
“We are not blackmailers but we want the authorities running the affairs to regularise our jobs and pay us our salaries so that we can run our kitchens,” Yaqoob said, adding that Sindh Health Secretary Hashim Raza Zaidi had met with the protesting health workers and assured that he would talk to the higher authorities.
“But the protest will continue until our demands are met,” she warned.
Meanwhile, at the protest, some women health workers were also arrested by the police but the LHWs again gathered at the press club to continue their sit-in.