Paramedics from all public hospitals of the city on Monday staged a strong protest to press for their demands, triggering trouble for patients as the functioning of the hospitals suffered a lot.
According to details, the protesting paramedics took out a rally from the Services Hospital to the Ganga Ram Hospital and then gathered at the Mayo Hospital from where they marched towards the Punjab Civil Secretariat and held a demonstration there. The protest was called by the Punjab Paramedical Staff Association (PPSA).
The protesters were carrying placards inscribed with slogans of their demands. The protest was of unique type as the paramedic leaders had mounted a sound system on a donkey cart that attracted a huge number of common people. The Punjab Civil Secretariat’s surroundings resonated with the loud music, forcing senior officials of the Health Department to come out and hold negotiations with the striking paramedics.
PPSA’s Punjab chairman Younis Billa told Pakistan Today that they were holding the protest to remind Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif of his promise about the service structure for the paramedics he had made in 2012 while sitting at his camp office in Iqbal Park.
He said that about 3,000 paramedics were working as daily wagers for the past ten years but the government was still reluctant to regularise them despite repeated announcements.
Punjab Health Director General (DG) Dr Amjad Shehzad tried to negotiate with the protesters but they refused to do so, saying they would only hold negotiations with the health secretary.
In the evening, the health secretary held discussions with the representatives of the paramedics in which CM’s Advisor on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique also participated.
After the negotiations, Younis Billa told this scribe that the government officials sought one week’s time to look into the matter and they would again hold a round of talks afterwards.
He added that if their demands were not met, they would take to streets again.
Parvez Masih, a sweeper from the Services Hospital told Pakistan Today that he had been working for the past 22 years but had not been regularized yet. When contacted, Punjab Health DG Dr Amjad Shehzad told Pakistan Today that the leadership of paramedics agreed to sit with them for talks during the next week. He said the protesters were assured that no daily wage worker would be sacked from his service in the near future and a plan would be made for their regularisation soon. “The risk insurance scheme for the employees of grade 5 to 10 is not possible instantly since it will cost the department heavily,” he concluded.
