The Grand Health Alliance (GHA), Sindh, announced on Monday that medical professionals would boycott out-patient departments (OPDs) in government hospitals across the province from Tuesday (today), in protest of the revocation of the coronavirus health risk allowance.
GHA members staged a demonstration at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), stating that they would hold protests outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) if their demands were not accepted by Thursday.
Protesting doctors, nurses and paramedics questioned why the provincial government had discontinued the health allowance when the threat of coronavirus still existed, adding that the government should either shut down the Covid-19 wards or resume the allowance for medical workers.
GHA Sindh' focal person Dr Mehboob Ali said they had decided during a meeting that they would boycott OPDs in government hospitals across Sindh from Tuesday and continue doing so until the Sindh Health Department accepted their demands.
"We will announce our strategy [for the future course of action] on Thursday and stage a protest outside the KPC next Monday," he said, threatening to besiege the Chief Minister's House, Governor House or Sindh Assembly building as part of the protest.
According to Dr Ali, the medical body’s demands include the permanent provision of health risk allowance, the abolition of the Pakistan Medical Commission and restoration of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, the provision of health insurance to all medical professionals and the use of the four-tier formula for health professionals, among other demands.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 13th, 2020.
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