Potential disaster : Paramedics threaten to boycott govt campaigns

Say they will not be part of dengue, measles awareness drives if not regularised

LAHORE: Punjab government health drives could suffer serious setbacks as paramedical staff has warned of withdrawing from the dengue surveillance and measles awareness campaigns if contractual employees are not made permanent immediately.

United Health Federation, a union of paramedical staff, and Allied Health held a demonstration on the busiest Mall Road junction at Nasir Bagh to protest against the health department’s ‘mala fide intentions’.

The stressed despite assurance from authorities, hundreds remain contractual employees. “We have been performing duties for the last five years, but unfortunately they have not made us permanent,” said United Health Federation General Secretary Salman Ahmed.



During the protest, the leaders of the federation also announced another rally on May 24 and warned they would besiege the Chief Minister Secretariat. According to them, health professionals cannot even provide basic bread and butter for their families.

Salman Ahmed further announced that the protest would spread to Lodhran, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalnagar, Narwal, Sialkot , Chakwal, Atock  Nankanasahab and other districts of Punjab if  their demands were not met.

He further stated that over the last five years, the dengue surveillance team did not even get holidays on Eid or Sundays. “The brutal health department is trying to stop the livelihoods of employees across Punjab.”

“Look at the sun. There are hundreds of employees who perform duties in the scorching heat and support door-to-door campaigns of the health department,” he said. “On the other hand, they are being marginalized and this cannot be tolerated.”

He further requested that the Punjab government should announce Rs10,000 as health professional allowance for the betterment of their lives as was done in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

He further stated that the structure of their pay scales had also not been revised and this best reflected the government’s priorities.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2017.