KMC nurses protest non payment of allowances

About 400 KMC nurses, deprived of their rights, went on strike and staged protest outside KMC Head Office

KARACHI:

Nurses serving in public hospitals under Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) have resorted to protests due to the non-payment of allowances.

According to details, 14 significant hospitals under KMC in the city were facing financial difficulties. About 400 nurses working in KMC hospitals have not been paid Allowances since Covid happened in 2019.

In addition, nurses have been facing non-payment of uniform allowances, including health risk and professional assistance, for the past several months. Consequently, all the nurses boycotted their hospitals and broke the barricades at the gate of the KMC head office to stage a protest.

Speaking on occasion, the protesting nurses said that while allowances are being paid to employees of Sindh Health Department, they are being prejudiced. We have been coming here for the last several days, but authorities are not cooperating. They said they could not meet the expenses in this era of inflation. They also complained that no recruitments are being made in health facilities under KMC.

They warned to continue the protest till their demands were met. The authorities are constantly ignoring our protest, they said, warning that the scope of the protest will be widened if their dues are not settled. The boycott will cause difficulties to the government, including the patients and the hospital administration, the nurses said, adding that the allowances should be provided as soon as possible as we do not want the patients to face difficulties.

The MS of KMC hospitals is under the misconception that the protest will end if he continues to ignore the demands, the nurses said. The nurses are said to be front-line soldiers but are not encouraged, they added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2022.