Salary woes: Health workers paid after 4 months

The provincial governments had alleged that the federal government had not transferred funds.

KARACHI: The lady health workers across the province were paid their salaries of the past four months on Saturday. There are 130,000 such workers across the country. The salaries were released on the directives of Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed. However, several workers complained that they were unable to get cash due to the closure of banks. Dozens of women held a protest outside a bank near Al-Asif Square. They said that the Supreme Court had also directed that banks should remain open on Saturday so that the employees could get their salaries before Eid. The health workers held several protests across the country to get their salaries issued. The provincial governments had to pay them after the passage of the 18th amendment, but the provinces alleged that the federal government had not transferred funds. The lady health workers had earlier announced staging a protest from the Karachi Press Club to the Sindh Chief Minister’s House on the Eid day (Monday).

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2012.