Several sanitary patrol workers sacked
The District Health Authority (DHA) has dismissed 16 sanitary patrol workers for poor performance and absenteeism, deduction of salary of 14 of them as penalty and forfeiture of increment of 3 employees.
The move has led to massive protest outside the office of the Chief Executive District Health Authority. Due to which, the World Health Organisation's campaign against cervical cancer, including dengue, polio and measles is in danger of collapsing.
The sanitary patrol workers of the Rawalpindi District Health Department have announced a major protest, calling the dismissals of hundreds of employees unjustified. The leaders have warned that if our demands are not accepted and the dismissed employees are not reinstated immediately, not only will the scope of the protest be expanded, but they will also turn the protest into a sit-in that will continue for an indefinite period. The DHA CEO confirmed that legal process will be initiated to dismiss 200 more employees.
A huge protest was organised by Rawalpindi All-Ittehad Sanitary Patrol, Rawalpindi District at the District Health Authority office. A large number of workers, including Ittehad District President Munir Moin, Muhammad Shahbaz Abbasi, Faizan Qureshi, Mubasher, Zarqa Mir, Sadia Bibi, Nasira Miskeen, Safir Jadoon, Samina Ashraf, Zeeshan Satti, participated in the protest.
The affected employees termed the dismissal after a show cause notice for minor negligence as a political vendetta and said that the government SOPs were not being followed, although the sanitary patrol workers always worked diligently in any campaign.
"Even on 12 Rabiul Awwal, we stayed to perform our duties for humanity," said protestors. The employees added that, "We have been working since 2015 and were dismissed from our jobs for just one activity after working day and night.
If the PEDA Act is applicable to health workers, then why can't it be applied to all the health department officers for the corruption of all the health department officers? There is evidence that they have forced us to do this. We worked day and night during Covid-19, today we are being fired from our jobs."
The leaders warned that this was the beginning of a big journey. "This step is not just a protest, but a step towards restoring rights. The participation of workers in the protest is proof of the awakening and unity of the employees." They said that this struggle is a war for honour, justice and dignity. They made it clear that we do not want political revenge but restoration of justice and dignity.
Meanwhile, District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Ehsan Ghani said that absenteeism, unsatisfactory performance and violation of discipline will not be tolerated. "Deputy Commissioner Hassan Waqar Cheema has given clear guidelines that employees with non-work, violation of discipline and disappointing performance will be dismissed. Action should be taken against them as per the law," he said, confirming that the process of dismissal of another 200 workers under the same charges is underway as per the law.