- More than 1,000 take part in protest, many others remain absent from duties
- Patients suffer in major hospitals due to boycott
- Demand fulfilment of promises made a year and a half ago
- Health allowance, minimum stipend of Rs20,000, creation of 14,000 new jobs and others included in demands’ list
KARACHI: The nurses in Sindh under the banner of Joint Nurses Action Committee (JNAC) on Monday staged a protest demonstration and a sit-in in front of Karachi Press Club (KPC) against the Sindh government for not announcing health professional allowance and non-implementation of 4-tier formula.
The JNAC Committee comprising Sindh Young Nurses Association (YNA), Provincial Nurses Association(PNA) and Private School Nursing Association (PSNA) gathered outside KPC to press the Sindh government and its Health Department to accept their demands promised one and a half year ago.
The protesting nurses chanted slogans against provincial government authorities concerned and vowed that protest demonstration would be continued until acceptance of their demands like health professional allowance, an increase of nursing student stipend and the implementation of 4-tier formula.
The strike has paralysed the provision of health services in public hospitals in Karachi and other districts of Sindh as around 1,000 nurses from across Sindh also joined the protest in Karachi while others have chosen to stay away from their jobs.
Due to the protest, dozens of operations were delayed in Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Civil Hospital Karachi, National Institute of Child Health and other hospitals in Karachi. The nurses boycotted all departments of hospitals except emergency and Intensive Care Units (ICU).
The protesting nurses, students and faculty members of nursing institutes demanded that the authorities should implement 4-tier formula for nurses, announce health professional allowance, raise stipend of nursing students up to 20,000 per month as equal to Punjab and KP provinces, give nursing schools DDO powers, establish nursing university in Sindh, create 14,000 new jobs, appoint additional secretary technical in health department from nursing cadre and follow announcement of Sindh Public Service Commission positions of controller and deputy controller in letter and spirit.
YNA (Sindh) General Secretary Abdul Wahid said nurses are considered to be the backbone of the health system, but high ups of Sindh Health Department have ignored the nursing profession every time.
He said JNAC has presented justified demands. He said, “All other three provincial governments are upgrading nursing profession and providing them with incentives whereas KP CM has approved 5-tier formula for nurses recently.”
He concluded by saying that it is heartening to share that there was no significant promotion for nurses in Sindh as the majority of them appointed in BPS-16 were retired in the same grade, and the committee formed by Sindh Health Department worked on recommendations in this regard, but it too was not entertained by the department.
