Non-payment of allowances: Rural doctors threaten to go on strike

As many as 50 doctors gathered outside the office of DCO and warned to go on a strike in all basic health units.

RAWALPINDI:

The young doctors serving in rural areas of Rawalpindi on Monday held a protest against non-payment of their allowances. As many as 50 doctors, both male and female, gathered outside the office of District Coordination Officer (DCO) and warned the district administration that if they were not paid their allowances within 72 hours they would go on a strike in all basic health units (BHU), rural health centres and Tehsil headquarter hospitals.

The doctors, under the umbrella of Young Doctors Association (YDA)-Rural, staged a sit-in in front of the DCO office demanding immediate payment of Rs15,000 as health professional allowance (HPA) and Rs3,370 as pay protection allowance (PPA) every month. They remained outside the DCO office for half an hour and chanted slogans against the district administration for not approving the budgetary allocations for their allowances.

Prior to carrying out the protest, four representatives of the doctors Dr Imran Raja, Dr Ghulam Abbas, Dr Imran Younas and Dr Saqiba met with DCO Saqib Zaffar. The meeting was also attended by Executive District Officer (EDO) Finance Saqib Manan.

After the meeting, the representative said they had given a three-day ultimatum to the district administration and the officials had ensured them that money would be allocated for their allowances soon.

“We struggled for the pay raise of doctors last summer; the Punjab government granted us with special allowances but the district administration has not been approving the budget,” said Dr Ali. “It is their responsibility as all the rural doctors are administratively controlled by district public health department,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2011.