Surgical Instruments: Manufacturers protest power outages

SIALKOT: The Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association (SIMA) has protested against daily unscheduled power outages for 18 to 20 hours in Sialkot.

SIMA Vice Chairman Jehangir Bajwa, in a statement on Tuesday, said that production process of 3,000 surgical units in Sialkot had been badly hampered by prolonged power outages, which were causing loss of millions of rupees daily.

He said that power outages had affected jobs of more than 500,000 artisans, who were associated directly and indirectly with the surgical industry, adding that due to the situation the exporters feared they would not be able to meet the export target.

He said that most of the factories had already closed two out of three production units and had also laid off workers.



Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2011.