KARACHI: Sindh Nurses Alliance on Saturday gave a 72 hours deadline to Sindh government to approve a summary to meet their demands, threatening to boycott emergency services and Intensive Care Units (ICUs) all hospitals if demands remained unmet.
Addressing a press conference outside the Karachi Press Club, central leaders of Sindh Nurses Alliance (SNA) Atta Hussain Rajper, Hira Lal, Aijaz Ali and Ghulam Dastagir announced that office-bearers of SNA will observe a hunger strike till death after 48 hours at the Karachi Press Club for implementation on written agreement signed by Sindh health department and representatives of nurses about two months ago.
They said nurses have also decided to boycott general emergency services, intensive care units, pediatric intensive care units, pediatric emergencies, cardiac intensive care units and other services after the end of their deadline across the province.
They said nurses of Sindh have been on protest for the past three days over the failure of the health department to implement on written agreement despite the passage of two months. The non-serious attitude of authorities of Sindh health department has compelled them to observe strike, they said.
However, nurses continued boycott of wards in public sector hospitals of the province for approval of health professional allowance, increase in stipend of nursing students, DDO powers for nursing school principals and promotion & up-gradation of nurses under a four-tier formula.
The nurses at Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Jamshoro, Shikarpur, Mithi, Jacobabad, Ghotki, Badin, Kashmor, Dadu and other cities and towns also continued boycott of duties and protest.
Patient care in Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, National Institute of Child Health, Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital, Sindh Government Qatar Hospital and other hospitals remained disturbed due to the protest of nurses.