The Pakistan Paramedical Staff Association (PPMSA) on Tuesday staged a protest demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club against proposed privatisation of government hospitals in Sindh. The PPMSA demanded of the provincial government to withdraw its decision of privatising state-owned institutions on urgent basis.
The protesters were led by PPMSA Sindh President Ismail Jiskani, Abdul Sattar, Haji Gul Saeed Khan, Haq Nawaz Sial and Jam Jamil. They were carrying banners and placards inscribed with different slogans like withdrawal of privatisation policy of public hospitals, save health department from NGOs and anti-employees policy is not acceptable.
Talking to media persons, Jiskani said that the privatisation policy of Sindh hospitals was not acceptable, therefore, paramedics would not allow provincial government to hand over public hospitals to NGOs.
He said paramedics had launched a province-wide protest demonstration against proposed privatisations policy of government hospitals. He said the government had made a plan to hand over 219 healthcare centers to NGOs including Basic Health Units (BHUs), Rural Health Clinics (RHCs), Taluka Health Units (THUs), and District Headquarter Hospitals (DHQs) in Sindh.
PPMSA leader Gul Saeed Khan said the Sindh government had created uncertainty among the doctors, nurses and paramedics by such move, which was unacceptable.
They demanded of the government to withdraw anti-public decision on urgent basis; otherwise, they warned that the scope of the protest demonstration would be widened in future.