LRH to work out anti-harassment policy for nurses

PESHAWAR: In the wake of a rising number of harassment cases, the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) management has decided to craft a policy under which action will be taken against those found guilty of victimising nurses.

The new policy will help book all those found guilty under the relevant law. Officials are nonetheless unsure about the scope of the law and believe that most of the cases will still end up with parties reaching a compromise.

Officials said that most of the cases would go unnoticed and female staff members would hesitate to report it.

“Yes, nurses hide these issues in a majority of cases but sometimes, when they are left with no choice by facing repeated harassment, they complain and bring the issue to the notice of the concerned officials,” a senior LRH official told The Express Tribune.

He stated that the cases would be resolved within the hospital premises on a pattern with other issues being resolved by involving a few people and ultimately a compromise would be reached.

Female nurses, however, stated that the issue was not confined to colleagues and they were often harassed by patients, too.

A senior female nurse, who wished not to be named, stated that most of the cases occurred during the night shift, adding she forwarded several complaints but all were resolved by the hospital management without imposing a penalty. She said that some of the cases were reported to the police deputed within the facility however, those involved would pursue for a patch up and ultimately the guilty would get away easily.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2016.