A number of lady health workers (LHW) across the country on Monday gathered at Parade Avenue and held a massive protest against nonpayment of their salaries for the last several months and staged a sit-in outside of the Parliament House.
They were also demanding regularisation of their jobs. During the protest rally and sit-in, three of the LHWs fell on the ground unconsciously and were immediately rushed to Polyclinic Hospital where they were treated and, later, discharged.
The protesters later got violent and tried to march towards the Supreme Court at Constitution Avenue. A heavy contingent of police stopped them from marching towards the SC building and, while tackling them, the police officials baton-charged them as a result of which dozens of women workers got seriously injured.
Talking to this scribe, several LHWs, including Shazia Kosar, Asma, Ayesha, Samia, Shagufta, Azra Yaseen, Rukhsana, Naseem Akhter, Tanzeela and Safia, said the government had not paid salaries to them for the last several months.
“It is surprising to many that now they even do not remember when they drew their salary last time,” one of them said.
They said more than 1,700 LHWs and 57 lady health supervisors were working in districts and facing a lot of problems without salaries.
They demanded of President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, and the provincial health ministers and federal health institutions to take notice of the plight of lady health workers and order early release of their salaries.
They said lady health workers had been appointed in 1994 during Shaheed Minister Benazir Bhutto’s government and since then they had been waiting for regularisation of their services.
They threatened that if their demands were not met, they would continue their protests across the country. “And, if government refuses to take immediate steps in resolving their issues, the LHWs will boycott all the health department programmes, including polio, dengue and others across the country,” they said.
