On Duty: Nursing students protest holiday work

FAISALABAD: Nursing students of two teaching hospitals in Faisalabad on Saturday protested against being asked to work during winter holidays. The protesters boycotted hospital duties and gathered outside Allied Hospital and Faisalabad District Headquarters Hospital and chanted slogans against hospital administrations. Talking to newsmen, Naila Sharif, one of the protesters, said the government had notified winter vacations for nursing students but administrations of the Allied Hospital and the DHQ Hospital had allowed them to take time off. The protesters threatened to boycott hospital duties for an indefinite period if they were not allowed to avail winter vacations. Representatives of administrations of both hospitals met the protesters and assured them that their problem would be resolved soon. They persuaded nursing students to call off their protest and resume work. Talking to newsmen, DHQ Hospital Medical Superintendent Abdur Rauf said there was a shortage of staff due to the holidays. “If these student nurses go home at this time, we will have no staff left to man the emergency ward”, he said. He said ward duty was a part of their curriculum.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2014.