Protest rallies: Taking to streets wins nurses pay protection

Dr Saeed Elahi promised a Rs5,000 allowance as pay protection to nurses regularised in service.

LAHORE: Dr Saeed Elahi, the parliamentary secretary for health on Friday promised a Rs5,000 allowance as pay protection to nurses regularised in service by the government in November 2010 who have been serving for more than 10 years.

The initiative came after some 300 nurses from various public hospitals rallied on major city roads. The nurses, mostly from the Institute of Child Health (ICH) protested on the Ferozepur Road, Jail Road and later on The Mall against the withdrawal of their allowance upon regularisation.

The nurses complained that after the chief minister’s directions to regularise the nurses, the hospital management had withdrawn the perks, allowances and increments they had been enjoying. They said that before they were regularised, their average salaries were between Rs20,000 to Rs24,000 per month, but after the withdrawal of these benefits, the average salaries had come down to as low as Rs12,000.  The rally was organised by the Young Nurses Association (YNA). The protesting nurses demanded restoration of their allowances as well as the regular status.

They accused the government of being ‘unjust’ and said that in their years of work, no government had ever taken away the facilities once granted.

Dr Ahsan Waheed Rathore, the Children’s Hospital medical director, told The Express Tribune that ICH nurses had been working since 1998 on contract basis.

He said that a majority of these nurses had been greatly affected by the government’s announcement to regularise them.He said that before getting the regular status the nurses had been receiving personal allowances, social fund and regular increments. Now, he added, they were getting only their gross salaries.

Now, he said, 40 per cent of their pay was being deducted including a 30 per cent contribution towards the general provident fund.  A 10-member delegation of the YNA met with Dr Elahi at his office.

Dr Elahi told them that nurses whose service exceeded 10 years would be eligible to receive Rs5,000 as pay protection. He said that the Health Department was already working on the issue.

Dr Elahi also said that recommendations regarding special allowances for nurses working in the Emergency ward of Children’s Hospital had been prepared and a summary sent to the chief minister. The nurses vowed to take the roads again if the government went back on its promises.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2011.