Nurses protest continues as their demands fall on deaf ears

Protesters reached Sindh Assembly but returned disappointed as assembly session was adjourned

KARACHI: Nurses headed towards Sindh Assembly on the ninth day of their protest, as their demands continued to fall on deaf ears. The protesters marched towards Sindh Assembly after Jumma prayers, holding banners. However, they had to return disappointed, to Karachi Press Club, where they have been staging a protest for the past few days, as the assembly session was adjourned.

In a bid to stop the protesters from moving towards the provincial assembly, police personnel had placed barriers in their way but failed to restrict the protesters.

Later, various members of Sindh Assembly, including the opposition leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi, invited the leadership of Sindh Nurses Alliance for negotiations. Following this, a four-member delegation of Sindh Nurses Alliances met the opposition leaders and informed them about their problems. Opposition leaders assured them that they will raise their issues during the assembly’s session on Monday.

Notwithstanding the assurance, nurses have announced that they will again stage a sit-in in front of the Sindh Assembly on Monday, as a notification guaranteeing that their demands will be met has not been issued by the government yet.

Leader of Sindh Nurses Alliance Aijaz Kaleri has said that the protest has entered the ninth day but none of the government representatives has approached the protesters to listen to their problems. Instead, opposition leaders have assured nurses that their issues will be resolved, he added.

Meanwhile, troubled by nurses’ protest, Health Department of Sindh has formed a seven-member committee to resolve the issue. Headed by health additional secretary, the committee comprises Karachi nursing director, Liaquatabad nursing and midwifery school principal, Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital chief nursing superintendent, health department deputy secretary general and leaders of Sindh Nurses Alliance, Aijaz Kaleri and Ata Muhammad Rajper. According to the notification issued by the Health Department of Sindh, the committee will present its suggestions to relevant authorities, after consulting about the promotion of nursing staff with the treasury department, within seven days.

However, Kaleri has stressed that forming a committee offers little assurance and nurses will continue to protest until the government issues a notification guaranteeing that their demands will be met.

He further said that although the protesters had to return disappointed from Sindh Assembly on Friday, but a protest demonstration will again be staged in front of the provincial assembly on Monday, adding that nurses’ boycott of their duties at the hospitals will continue.

Kaleri said that they were prepared to face any action the government may take against the protesters.

It has been more than a week since nurses have been holding protest demonstrations, to urge the government to meet their demands, and three days since nurses boycotted their duties at the hospitals. Their demands include promotion and up-gradation of nursing staff under the four-tier formula, provision of health allowance, increasing the stipend of nursing students to Rs25,000, giving nursing school principals power equivalent to those of DDO and appointment of 14,000 new nurses.

In the absence of nurses from the hospitals, patients are facing difficulties and doctors are forced to work outside their duty hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2019.