Service Structure: Paramedics warn of indefinite strike

Paramedics observed a complete boycott of their duties.

FAISALABAD: Paramedic at public hospitals staged a demonstration on Wednesday seeking an increase in their salaries and fringe benefits. Paramedics from the Allied Hospital, the divisional headquarters (DHQ) hospital, the Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology (FIC) and General Hospital in Ghulam Muhammadabad participated in the demonstration.

They observed a complete boycott of their duties. Later, the protesters took out protest rallies in front of their hospitals.

They hung dried breads around their necks and held banners and placards with their demands written on them.

They chanted slogans against the government and the Health Department. Muhammad Azeem, the Paramedical Staff Association (PSA) Faisalabad chapter spokesman, told The Express Tribune that the government had promised a new service structure for paramedics on several occasions, but had not kept the promises. Azeem said that doctors, clerks and nurses had recently received comprehensive service structure packages, but they (paramedics) had been denied of this.

He warned that if their demands were not met, they would extend their strike indefinitely.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2012.