With Eid holidays coming up, private and government offices, including hospitals, witnessed low attendance on Monday, as a majority of employees had already left the city to celebrate Eid elsewhere with their families. Low attendance and leaving offices early is a routine in government offices during Ramadan. A large numb r of officers and employees secured leaves or left the office after signing the attendance registers.
According to an official announcement by the government, Eid holidays would start from August 31 to September 3, but employees from far flung areas would get an additional leave of two days, allowing them to travel easily and spend more time with their families.
“It will take me two days to reach my hometown so I got an early leave to get there in time,” said Sarwar Mehdi, a teacher. “If I do not leave the office on Monday, it will be impossible for me to celebrate Eid with family,” he added.
People who did show up at offices had difficulties performing their tasks as important staff members were missing. “I came here to get my property papers verified but failed to do so due to the absence of the officials concerned,” said Jawad Khan, a local. Many headquarters of various organisations are located in the federal capital with thousands of employees and workers, most of whom were absent or on leave on Monday. The patients suffered most due to these absences, as many nurses and doctors had also left. “We are now facing immense problems while dealing with a large number of patients because many of our colleagues have left for their homes before Wednesday,” said Sophia, a nurse at a private hospital. Several patients at private and government hospitals, who did not know about the absence of doctors, complained to Pakistan Today about having to wait for a long time to get treatment. “It can create serious problems for staff if any high-up takes notice of this short attendance,” said an employee working at PIMS.
