Paramedics crash, burn, faint and threaten

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Beginning their protest on the Jail Road, the paramedical staff took their protest to Model Town where Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif lives on Tuesday. The protesters were holding banners and placards inscribed with their demands. The protestors demanded that if the Punjab government did not resolve the problems of grade four employees and did not issue the service structure of grade 1 to 4 employees, employees would be forced to commit mass suicides. They further demanded that the paramedics should also be given the health professional allowance as has been given to nurses and doctors. The protesters writhed on the road to register their protest.
In Model Town, one of the protesters, Muhammad Yousaf, poured kerosene oil and tried to set himself on fire. He received serious burn injures. Another protester, Rana Malik, suffered from a heatattack and was taken to the Gulab Devi Hospital. Another protester, Muhammad Saleem, fainted and was admitted to the General Hospital. Other protesters Muhammad Waqas, Saleem and Muhammad Siddiq got injured during the entire episode. However, the injured are all admitted in different hospitals now. Later, the Punjab Paramedics Alliance central leadership met under Provincial Chairman Malik Munir Ahmad and condemned the incident of torching. The meeting further decided that if the government did not accept their demands another protest will be staged in Nasir Bagh on March 7.
Khwaja Salman Rafiq came to the scene and held negotiations with the paramedics and assured them that the government would resolve the matter. The president however said the disheartened paramedics wanted that their problems be addressed. He said the protests would keep getting severe and more frequent if their demands were not met.