Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Provincial Nurses Association (PNA) on Thursday called off a week-long strike on assurances extended by the KP health ministry to address issues related to nurses’ service structure and allowances within a 3-month timeframe.
District Nurses Association President Farah Jalil told Pakistan Today that after successful talks with the KP health department authorities including Syed Zahir Ali Shah, provincial health minister, special secretary health Professor Dr Noorul Iman and Pakistan Nursing Association Vice President Tahira at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) Peshawar, the KP PNA called the strike off. She said nurses had been denied service structure for 50 years and not allowed health allowance and student allowance.
The KP nurses association took out a token strike with black ribbons on their arms starting last Thursday and resorted to a two hour token strike from December 14 and had called for a complete strike with no emergency cover at all teaching hospitals of Peshawar from December 15. However, after successful negotiation between Nurses Association office bearers and the provincial health ministry, the strike being carried out by 4,060 nurses across KP was called off.
Earlier on Thursday morning, before the negotiations with health authorities, nurses started began a boycott and strike with no emergency cover at Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar and began protests in favour of their demands. They maintained that devoid of rights, nurses were facing problems and were not at mental ease to carry out their duties. Protesting nurses at KTH demanded a 100 percent increase in salary, increase in monthly stipends, provision of professional health allowance like doctors and setting up a separate nursing directorate for them. They threatened to observse set in before the KP provincial assembly on Saturday but KP health authorities under KP health minister Zahir Shah held successful talks with nursing office bearers at HMC and after assuring them of the redressal of their issues within 3-moths, the strike was called off.
