Medics on strike: Token strikes continue as demands go unheard

ISLAMABAD:

The medical and non-medical staff of hospitals in the federal capital continued their two-hour daily token strike on Friday to press the authorities for acceptance of their demands. The staff of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) raised slogans and carried placards  in front of administration block of the hospital asking the administration for revision of service structures and early implementation of Basic Pay Scale system.

A similar protest was also held at Polyclinic Hospital, in which the staff urged the administration for early implementation of the new pay system.

Addressing the protesters at PIMS, Joint Action Committee Chairman Manzar Abbas Naqvi said that they will continue their token strike till the acceptance of their demands. He said that on the assurance of government high ups, they were only holding a token strike instead of an all-day strike in the hospitals.

He demanded that the government announce health risk allowances for them. The demands were signed and will be presented before the Prime Minister soon.

Meanwhile, Meva Khan, a male nurse at Polyclinic, made his second suicide attempt in two days in front of the hospital on Friday. “This was another desperate attempt by the medical staff to gain government’s attention, who seem oblivious to our worries,” said a doctor.

(With additional input from APP)

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2012.