ISLAMABAD: The government’s decision to entertain the demands of paramedics, following a 17-day protest, has given some hope to 53 recently terminated nurses. To protest the illegal termination of their jobs and make a plea for regularisation, they staged a sit-in in front of the Parliament on Friday.
“We have been protesting for more than 22 days and want our voices to be heard by those who talk about providing ‘roti, kapra aur makan’ under democracy,” said a nurse.
They gathered together at 8am in front of the Parliament and decided to stay there until they got a response from the Ministry of Health on their plea. Unfortunately, no one from the ministry came to discuss the matter with them.
Without any prior notice, the nurses were issued termination notices on January 26 by Polyclinic Hospital’s Executive Director Dr Shaukat Kiani, well before the end of their contractual periods.
While showing the termination letter to The Express Tribune, Azmat Hussain, a male nurse, expressed his concern over there not being any mention of the Ministry of Health in the letter.
“The administration of the hospital took this decision on its own without consulting the ministry that had recruited us,” he added.
The majority of the fired nurses are over-aged and fear they may not be able to get jobs elsewhere. Since many of them are the sole bread-earners of their families, they said that the sudden notification was like a “death sentence” for them.
Ishrat Bibi, who belongs to Peshawar, looks after her five sisters in addition to her mother, who is a widow suffering from a serious
lung disease.
“My father passed away 15 years ago. I have no brother, so I came to Islamabad to earn money and provide for my family,” Ishrat told The Express Tribune. She said she was obliged to save money for her mother’s treatment and her sisters’ weddings, who are currently students.
“I am in a deep shock and have no idea where to go and what to do,” she said.
When contacted, Polyclinic Hospital spokesperson Dr Sharif Astori said that the hospital administration served termination notifications to only those nurses who failed their Federal Public Service Commission exams.
“We have to hire nurses who have passed the exam as they deserve to be regularised.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2011.
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