PIMS employees call hunger strike

The employees of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) continued their protest against the Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) Act for the eleventh consecutive day on Thursday.

The protesting employees refused to accept the Board of Governors and the appointment of a chairman of the board saying they will hold hunger strike against the decison.

The protestors marched from Pims’ emergency department to the vice chancellor’s (VC) office and surrounded it. They chanted slogans against the government's decision to implement the MTI law at Pims and put the health facility under a board of governors. They announced to stage an indefinite hunger strike from Friday and closing all services in the hospital.

Grand Health Alliance (GHA) Chairman Dr Asfandyar said that if the next meeting of the Board of Governors is held in the VC office, they will lock it. All departments will be closed and no operations will take place in the operation theatres, he added.

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