Trouble at children’s hospital: Eight men arrested as protesters refuse to budge

The paramedical staff and nurses are protesting the lack of health allowances for employees.

KARACHI: As many as eight employees of the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) were arrested on Saturday for attempting to boycott hospital duties for the third consecutive day over the issue of health allowance for employees.

A day earlier, the union leaders had announced to continue their strike on Saturday after negotiations between the health officials and the protesting employees failed. On Saturday morning, when leaders of the protesting employees, comprising nurses and paramedical staff, reached the healthcare facility to record their protest, NICH director Dr Syed Jamal Raza invited them to negotiations again.

However, the four leaders, identified as Zaryab Tiwana, Aijaz Kalheri, Syed Shahid Iqbal and Rafiq Sial, were handed over to the Saddar police when they did not agree to call off the protest, said Dr Raza when approached by The Express Tribune. The Saddar Police station house officer, Pir Shabbir Haider, confirmed that an FIR had been registered on behalf of the NICH director against the protesting employees.

"Nobody will be allowed to come in the way of providing healthcare at the only children's hospital of the province," said Dr Raza, adding that the boycott from hospital duties and creating a law and order situation could lead to a loss of lives.

After the arrests, activities at the healthcare facility, including its out-patient department, continued as per routine until afternoon when the employees began to protest once again over what they termed were "planned arrests of their leaders on the pretext of negotiations".

The police were summoned once again, resulting in the arrest of four more employees, after which the protest subsided. "We tried our best to make them realise the limitations of the provincial government in the face of their demands but they did not listen," said district South additional deputy commissioner, Muhammad Khan Rind. "We had to take this extreme step to save children's lives, currently under treatment at the NICH."

The issue

Provincial health secretary Saeed Ahmed Mangnejo explained that the paramedical staff and nurses at the two hospitals, NICH and the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), were entitled to a health allowance when these institutions were under the federal government.

"Since the devolution of these two institutions, the provincial government could not be asked to offer this specific incentive to the NICH and JPMC employees when it does not offer the same to employees at other state-owned healthcare facilities across the province."

Mangrejo added that the health allowances dues, as being demanded by the employees, amounted to around Rs480 million. "We asked them to wait until the budget for the upcoming fiscal year is announced but only the employees at the JPMC agreed to it," he said. "We hope to resolve this matter amicably by involving the federal government once the budget is announced."

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2015.