GHA warns of surrounding CM House

Grand Health Alliance says govt' assurance have not materialised yet

HYDERABAD: The Grand Health Alliance (GHA) has warned of surrounding the Chief Minister House if their demands were not accepted within three days.

The GHA, which represents Pakistan Medical Association, Young Doctors Association and the paramedics association, issued the warning during a protest outside the Hyderabad Press Club on Saturday.

The alliance had started a boycott of the outpatient departments in government hospitals across Sindh from June 8 as a token of protest.

“We have been protesting daily for the past 13 days,” said Abdul Ghaffar Rind, vice-president of the alliance. “But we are shocked by the indifference of the provincial government, not only towards our protests, but also to the risk of health workers contracting the coronavirus in the hospitals.”

The alliance has called for the provision of personal protective equipment, health risk allowance, enactment of the health facilities security bill by the provincial assembly and establishment of separate isolation wards for the health workers, among other demands.

The alliance’s office-bearers told the media that though their delegation met the Sindh health secretary earlier this week, the government’s assurances have not yet materialised.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2020.