Sanitary patrols protest low wages, salary deductions

A large number of sanitary patrols — who perform duty during anti-dengue and anti-polio campaigns— staged a protest rally in front of the District Health Authority (DHA) chief executive officer’s office against poor wages and harsh working conditions.

The sanitary patrols including male and female workers said that the Punjab Health Department has cancelled their Sunday leave. They said that health authorities also deduct the salaries of those workers who take a gazetted leave on Sunday.

The protesting staff said that the health department expected them to perform duty from 8 am to 8 pm every day and those who do not show up on Sundays lose a day’s pay, receive show cause notices, and were also allegedly subjected to threats of dismissal, and blackmailing.

“The practice of deducting salaries on public holidays should be done away with. If it was necessary to call for duty on Sunday in an emergency, then they must be compensated,” they added.

They further demanded that as per law, in case of emergency, two leaves per month should be provided without deduction of salary. They demanded that the facility of medical leave should be ensured apart from other perks.

They demanded that daily wagers should be paid on time and without any hassle. “Supervisors and sanitary patrols fall in the same category. Supervisors should be made with the mutual consultation of the sanitary patrols and the less educated should not be given preference.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2022.