Punjab Paramedics Alliance has warned of an indefinite protest if the terminated employees were not restored by the hospital. PHOTO: FILE
As many as 92 daily-wage and contract employees of the divisional headquarters hospital who were terminated from service two days ago staged a demonstration to register their protest against their termination. The medical superintendent says they were terminated over uniformed absence.
Demanding that they be restored immediately, the protesters gathered in front of the hospital and shouted slogans against the administration and the Health Department.
Muhammad Amjad, one of the protesters, said the hospital management did not have a ground for ordering terminations. He claimed that the employees had been terminated unlawfully.
He said some daily-wage employees, who had been working at the hospital for over 20 years, had filed petitions before the Lahore High Court seeking their confirmation.
He said last week the LHC had dismissed the petitions on “technical grounds”. He said the hospital administration had been immediately issued the termination orders.
“The orders were issued immediately to stop the employees from filing review or revision of their petitions before the court,” Amjad said.
Medical superintendent Arif Ali told The Express Tribune that the said employees included ward servants, ward boys, sweepers and security guards. He said they had been found absent from their duties without informing the hospital administration. He said they had been terminated on justified grounds.
On Tuesday, he said, the terminated employees had also staged a protest demonstration when Advisor to the Chief Minister for Health Khwaja Salman Rafique visited the hospital during his visit of the district. He said Rafique had formed a committee to probe the matter.
He said the three-member committee, comprising MNA Rana Muhammad Afzal; District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal; and Punjab Medical College Principal Zahid Yaseen Hashmi, would look into the matter. He said the committee would submit its report to the advisor before the end of the month. He said there was no point now in disrupting hospital work and city traffic.
Separately, the Punjab Paramedics Alliance has warned of an indefinite protest if the terminated employees were not restored by the hospital.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2014.
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