Shoe-string budget: Health worker fuel compensation cut in half to 35 litres

Petrol reimbursements have not been made since August 2010.

KARACHI:

Nearly a month after the protesting health workers were pacified by the government officials, they were victimised once again when the government announced that their fuel imbursements will be halved to 35 litres. They came out protesting again, especially when their previous demands of delayed salaries and regularisation have still not been met.

Khairunissa Memon, the provincial president of the All Pakistan Lady Health Worker Employees Association, held a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Monday to highlight the problems faced by the workers of her community. Talking to The Express Tribune, she said that according to the new orders, 70 litres of fuel that were received by each worker per month, will now be limited to 35 litres.

She said that the workers received their petrol reimbursements on a quarterly basis, but they have not received any since August 2010. She said that the cut is not only unfair for the poorly paid workers who do extensive field work, but also unjust when they have already spent fuel according to their previously determined limit of 70 litres. She then explained that getting fuel was an ordeal in itself as they could get their fuel from only one petrol pump located near the airport. “This means that the health workers who live far from the airport will consume all their fuel in just getting there instead of using it for their field visits.”

She added that the previous issues of the delay in pays and regularisation remain the same as they have still not received their salaries since February and are waiting for their permanent contracts until the devolution after the 18th Amendment is carried through. “After continuous protests and sit-ins, we were told to wait until the provinces get control because of which we cancelled our boycott and enthusiastically started our duties with the polio campaign,” she said. Since the protests, she said, that the lady health workers have done the polio campaign as well as the mother-child week without a single complaint.

She also said that they do not even get money for the maintenance of their cars given by the government. Each team of almost 25 to 40 workers under a lady health supervisor gets one Suzuki pick-up.    Khursheed, who has a health house at Abyssinia lines near Sindhi Muslim, said that she has a lot to cover as she is the only health worker in her area. She added that despite the fact that they get to do most of the work under government schemes, they have no job security and insurance. She said that she has been injured twice on duty and the second time she received serious injuries when a log fell on her head.

Khairunissa said that until 2009 their pay raise was just Rs200 per year for a supervisor and Rs190 for the workers. Their pay was increased to Rs7,000 per month in 2009, but the scale was kept the same for all workers, such as the drivers, account supervisors and lady health workers.

Health EDO could only tell that the orders are being carried out as per the notification of the federal government and that they have written a protest letter back for the health workers after their complaints.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2011.