House officers protest non-payment of salaries

KARACHI: House officers at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital continued to protest the non-payment of salaries on Tuesday, with the hospital facing a financial crisis.

The protesters, holding banners and placards, demanded immediate payment of salaries from Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar. They maintained that they had been protesting for the past four days but no one had come to their aid. According to the protestors, they had been working at the hospital for the last four months without getting paid.

They claimed that Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Senior Medical Director Dr Salma Kausar had assured them that the issue would be resolved by March 12, however, they would consider protesting outside the mayor’s office if their demands are not fulfilled until then.

Meanwhile, sources affiliated with the hospital have claimed that doctors, deputy medical superintendents, assistant medical superintendent and other high officials have also been deprived of salaries and other health allowances for the past eight months.

Later, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Khurram Sherzaman visited the hospital, met the hospital’s director and assured the protesters he would work towards resolving their issues.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2020.