Protest: Nurses demand increase in allowances

Nurses demand that the government approve professional allowance for nurses, increase their salary by 100%.

PESHAWAR:  

To pressurise the government to fulfil their demands, nurses at Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) wore black armbands and chanted slogans, demanding their ‘lawful’ rights at a protest in front of the administrative block on Monday.

 

Talking to The Express Tribune, District Nurses Association President Farrukh Jalil said the government had approved professional allowances for doctors but ignored nurses, which was ‘unjust’. “Even though nurses work for more hours than doctors, the government is neglecting us.” He demanded the government to approve professional allowances for nurses as well and increase student nurses’ allowance from Rs3,500 to Rs10,000. Head nurse Sakina, said it had become difficult for student nurses to manage their expenses since the current allowance was ‘insufficient’.

 

The protesters said 22 grade-18 posts were lying vacant in the hospital. Of these, 18 seats have been lying vacant since 2001 due to the absence of prescribed rules. They demanded of the government to prepare service rules and service structure for nurses under their supervision. Nurses have threatened to go on strike from December 15 across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa if the government fails to respond to their demands within a three-day deadline. They have also warned to take out a long march all the way to Islamabad if the government fails to fulfil their demands.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2011.