No salary: LHWs threaten countrywide protest

Government claims funds released to provinces.

ISLAMABAD:

Lady health workers (LHWs) have threatened to stage a countrywide protest if they aren’t paid their salaries in a week’s time.

Despite the federal government’s assertion that it has released funds for LHWs’ salaries a month ago, thousands of LHWs claims they have not been paid for the last six months. The LHWs have given a one- week ultimatum to the government to meet their demand.

Dr Baseer Achakzai, who is looking after the Lady Health Workers programme at the federal level, said the federal government released funds to the provinces to pay salaries to LHWs in March.

“Our responsibility is to release funds to the provinces. It’s up to them to pay salaries, we cannot interfere in this matter.”

According to Inamul Haq, Finance director at the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC), around 70 per cent of Rs11 billion has been released for the LHWs programme for 2013-2014. The money is divided amongst the provinces according to their share and the number of LHWs serving there.

LHWs Associations Punjab president said it had become difficult for them to support their families without money or do field work without fuel allowance.

LHWs Employees Association Punjab President Rukhsana Anwar said they have not been paid since January.

In February, we staged a sit-in for more than 32 hours to demand regularisation, which was called off after the Punjab government assured them they would be regularised and receive salaries according to the new pay scales from March, she stated. “Many of them are their families’ sole breadwinners and it has become impossible for them to feed them.”

Ayesha Hassan, Peshawar district supervisor for LHWs said there were 14,700 workers and majority of them are unable to pay their children’s school fees, rent, medical bills. “They were on strike but they agreed to work for the anti-polio drive so they could buy flour for their families with Rs600.”

Zainab, a LHW in Peshawar who is a heart patient has discontinued her treatment because she could not afford it. Farkhanda, another LHW in Peshawar, is the eldest of six children. Her parents have passed away and she worries about feeding her younger brothers and sisters and paying their fees.

All Pakistan LHWs Sindh President Haleema Laghari said around 24,000 employees have not received their salaries since last December. “During the anti-polio drive we’ve to rent a car for Rs1,500 a day, for which we’ve to borrow money.”

The Express Tribune tried to contact Dr Javed Umar, provincial coordinator for the LHW Programme Punjab and Dr Roshan Ali Bhatti, provincial coordinator for the National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Healthcare, Sindh, but they were unavailable for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2014.