The protesters said salaries of paramedics ranged between Rs8,000 to Rs12,000. This, they said, was not enough to sustain their families.
"District Tharparkar is one of the less privileged areas [of Sindh] where the health care staff needs to be compensated on equal terms for encouragement," said Pakistan Paramedical Association's (PPSA) provincial president, Muhammad Ismail Jiskani, during a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday.
Jiskani said the Sindh chief minister, in December last year, approved a grant of Rs290 million as hard area allowance for the implementation of plan in preparation of a nagging drought condition in Tharparkar district for six months.
Hard area allowance: Doctors, nurses announce protest
According to him, specialists, medical officers and the technical paramedical staff have been given the allowance but the non-technical paramedical staff from grades 1 to 8 has been deprived of the allowance since January.
He said according to a notification, specialist doctors have been receiving Rs140, 000 and medical officers Rs90, 000 and technical paramedical staff Rs10, 000 while the paramedical supporting staff from grades 1 to 8 have been denied their hard area allowance.
Jiskani maintained that those who have been getting the allowance are 701 against the 1,079 sanctioned posts, for whom the estimated cost would be 140 million that would lapse after the financial year.
We are in constant contact with the health department officials but they do not seem interested in resolving our issue, said Jiskani, claiming that this may lead to a province-wide strike of the paramedics.
Work woes: Paramedics protest for allowances
Jiskani also requested Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and CM Murad Ali Shah to take notice of the reservations of the paramedical staff of drought-hit Tharparkar.
PPSA's Karachi division General Secretary Haq Nawaz Siyal, along with the office-bearers of Tharparkar district were of the view that the staff of 1,200 that has been denied their hard area allowance have more rights than the doctors who are receiving it.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Fazlullah Pechuho told The Express Tribune that threats of a strike will never resolve issues since it will affect the patients. However, the secretary assured that he will resolve their issues if they justify their demands before him.
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