A slap in the face solves everything

LAHORE: Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Sheikh Ejaz told The Express Tribune that a recent squabble between two sweepers had been resolved. The sweepers at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital went on strike on July 16 following a quarrel between two sweepers where one slapped the other but after hospital administration intervened, the sweepers resolved their dispute in an unusual way.

Ejaz said that the deputy medical superintendent of the hospital emergency had called both parties and inquired into details of the quarrel. He said that Aasiah eventually agreed to reconcile after she was allowed to slap Abbas in turn. “Aasiah slapped Abbas three times on the face and the quarrel was resolved,” he said, adding that Abbas and Aasiah have now eaten a meal together.

Dr Sheikh Ejaz said that he had given a cleaning contract for the hospital to a private company. He said that two sweepers Abbas and Asia got into a scuffle in the emergency ward of the hospital on a minor issue, adding that Abbas slapped Aasiah. The MS said that Aasiah and her colleagues went on strike a few days ago and demanded that Abbas be removed from service, stating that they would not end their strike otherwise. “Now the matter has been resolved,” he said. Ejaz said that he called on the contractor and asked him to address the workers to ask them to avoid quarrels in the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2010.