KARACHI: The staff of Sindh Government Children Hospital (SGCH), North Karachi, employed by the Poverty Eradication Initiative (PEI), are yet to be paid their salaries as the Health Department of Sindh has not released a budget to the PEI since the last 14 months.
The health facility is being run under public-private partnership through the PEI since September 2016. The government had released Rs440 million for the fiscal year 2016-17 but stopped its budget of 2017-18 due to serious charges of mismanagement.
About 385 employees hired by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) including doctors, nurses and other staff have been unpaid for the last four months due to the shortage of funds while the emergency department, ICU and other facilities are also not functioning properly due to the lack of funds.
The unpaid employees have initiated a series of protest against the NGO’s bosses and the provincial health department for the release of their salaries.
The staff have also shut down the emergency, ICUs, operation theatre and other services in protest for the past ten days. The supply of three-time meals to children has also been halted for the same reasons.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the finance department to release the quarterly budget of Sindh Government Children Hospital (SGCH), North Karachi for its proper functioning two weeks ago.
He also constituted a committee led by Adviser to Sindh CM on Information Murtaza Wahab to investigate allegations against PEI.
