Lady health workers to receive salaries by next week

After protest near CM House, health secretary assures workers that they will receive their dues

KARACHI: Protesting lady health workers (LHWs) have been assured by the government that their unpaid salaries for five months would be released by next week.

The assurance was given to the LHWs by the health secretary, Dr Fazlullah Pechuho, during a meeting at CM House on Thursday. Dr Pechuho directed the officials to speed up the verification process of the LHWs through the biometric system.

The meeting was held after hundreds of LHWs demonstrated against their unpaid salaries, slow process of biometric verification and other issues near CM House. They gathered at the Polo Ground in the morning and tried to march towards CM House.

Police tried to stop the LHWs by shutting the doors of the ground. However, the health workers managed to exit the ground and later blocked roads at the PIDC intersection, which resulted in a severe traffic jam in the area that lasted for hours.



At the protest, LHWs shouted slogans against the government and raised their demands. "We are responsible for immunisation and conducting anti-polio drives in the province but we have not received salaries for the past five months. There is no option left for us but to protest," said a LHW worker, Rukhsana.

During the protest, Dr Pechuho invited five LHWs, including All Pakistan Lady Health Worker Welfare Association President Bushra Arain, to speak to him. The health secretary assured the delegation that the unpaid salaries of the LHWs would be released by next week. To fulfil his pledge, he also issued letters for the release of their salaries.

A female police officer tying to stop the protesting lady health workers. PHOTO: ONLINE

However, Pechuho also took assurances from Arain that the workers who would not be verified through biometric system, would return their salaries to the government.

"It has been more than five months that our salaries are being withheld by the government, which is like economic murder of all lady health workers," Arain said, adding that the LHWs had been compromising their obligations to their families and sincerely performing their duties but the government did not care for their welfare.



Arain added that if the government backed out of its promise to release their salaries, the LHWs would resume the protest and would not participate in the anti-polio campaign which was scheduled this month across the province.

"It has become a routine of the health department to withhold our salaries," lamented another LHW, Zahida. She added that the LHWs would not continue tolerating such injustice.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Dr Pechuho commented that the salaries had been withheld due to the ongoing biometric verification. "40% of the 22,000 lady health workers across the province have so far been verified," the health secretary said.