Service structure: Ladies hold up traffic on The Mall to assert right

Health Dept says lady workers’ service structure awaits approval.

LAHORE:

Hundreds of lady health workers (LHWs) from all over the province on Monday staged a demonstration in front of the Punjab Assembly and blocked traffic on The Mall for over six hours, demanding regularisation of their services.

LHW Association Lahore President Noreen Bibi said that last year, the Supreme Court had passed an order for the regularisation of LHWs’ services in the Punjab. At the time, the Health Department had told the court that it would regularise the service till July 31, 2013. “We still haven’t received a notification regarding the regularisation of our services,” she said, “We are here to press our demands for the implementation of the Supreme Court’s orders.”

She said more than 2,000 protesters had come from several districts.

The LHWs started a sit-in at Charing Cross at around 11am. Many scuffled with the commuters and shopkeepers who tried to send them away.

The city government has banned all kinds of protest, on The Mall. The police, however, did not use force to stop or disperse them.

Commuters had to face a lot of problems as traffic on The Mall was jammed for more than six hours.

“The Health Department should be ashamed as it has done nothing to formulate a service structure for LHWs,” Rukhsana Bibi said, “We earn Rs8,000 a month-that is even less than what unskilled labourers get. Our salaries should also be revised and we should be treated the way other government employees are treated.”

LHW Programme Coordinator Akhtar Rashid told The Express Tribune that the Health Department had regularised the LHWs’ services and had submitted a report to this effect in the court. “The process of structuring the LHWs’ service rules has been completed. It will now be placed before the Cabinet Committee for approval,” he said, “The rules will be laid before the committee when it meets. Once these are approved, the notification for regularisation of the LHWs’ services will be issued.”

He said that the LWHs had not been given personal service books yet so they had assumed that they had not been regularised. “They have been receiving salaries on a regular basis,” he said, “The process of drafting service rules took time because previously the LHWs were working on project budgets.”  Special Secretary Babar Tarar, the health director general, and some senior officials of the department visited the protesters and tried to placate them. They had not been successful till the filing of the report.  Leader of the Opposition in the provincial assembly Mian Mahmoodur Rashid joined the protest. “The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has submitted an adjournment motion on this issue in the assembly. It is a matter of shame for the Punjab government that these women who serve people in rural areas have to come to Lahore to protest for their rights.” The PTI will also ask other opposition parties to take up the issue, he said, “We demand that the government resolve the issue at the earliest.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2013.