Demanding change: CHK paramedics go on strike

The protesters seek the immediate restoration of a separate staff clinic on CHK premises.

KARACHI: Civil Hospital Karachi’s (CHK) paramedical staff resorted to a token hunger strike on Monday to make their demands heard. These demands include provision for job quota for the children of CHK paramedics as well as re-employment on a permanent basis of private staff that had been laid off by the NGO running the hospital’s burns centre. The protesters also seek the immediate restoration of a separate staff clinic on CHK premises and the provision of an emergency allowance for paramedics serving in the emergency department. Meanwhile, some of their demands relate to administrative issues, such as the appointment of a permanent medical superintendent for the hospital and the revival of its vascular ward. The protesters further demand the presence of senior doctors in all CHK wards around the clock and the immediate repair of faulty technology.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2014.