Following the successful move by the Young Doctors Association, the All Pakistan Paramedics Staff Federation (APPMSF) Punjab chapter, demanding salary raise of grade one to grade four employees, has warned the provincial government of going on a strike in all public hospitals in the province on Monday. Dozens of paramedic staff members held a protest led by APPMSF Punjab President Javed Chohan from Mayo Hospital to the Charing Cross in this regard. The protesters carried banners and placards demanding revised service structure for the paramedic staff as the government had already announced a raise in the salaries of grade five to grade16 employees of the public hospitals. Addressing the rally, Chohan said there were only 27,000 employees in the scale five to scale16 across the province and the government had revised their service structure but the service structure of scale one to scale four employees was not revised despite their strength being more than 80,000. He said although the paramedic staff was backbone of the healthcare system, the government did not give any importance to them while devising economic policies. Chohan demanded the government end discriminatory attitude towards the lower grade employees and increased their salaries immediately as the service structure of other medical employees had recently been revised. He demanded the government set the minimum salaries of the government employees at least Rs 35,000, keeping inflation in view. He also urged the government to set up residential colonies for the medical employees and provide transport facility for them. The APPMSF president warned that the paramedic staff could go on a strike in the hospitals if their demands were not considered. He announced that the federation would hold the next protest rally on May 24 in which the federation members from other districts of Punjab would also participate. During the rally The Mall remained blocked for a long time.
