After doctors, Peshawar Lady Reading Hospital's paramedics go on strike
Show cause notices to the doctors were withdrawn by the KP government earlier
PESHAWAR (Dunya News) – Paramedics, nursing staff and class-four workers at Lady Reading Hospital have launched strike after doctors called off protests following successful dialogue with the government, Dunya News reported Friday.
Strike was called today against transfers of staffers to different stations for violation of Essential Services Act. Protesters gathered in the hospital’s premises and demanded the government to withdraw orders.
Hundreds of patients have suffered in the earlier days owing to doctors’ strike and now just when the situation was about to better today, paramedics have pushed Lady Reading Hospital in quagmire.
Doctors on Thursday had called off their strike after a successful round of negotiations between Health Employees Coordination Council and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government held at Chief Minister (CM) House in Peshawar.
Earlier, chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan clarified that the Essential Services Act was imposed by Peshawar High Court (PHC) and not the government.
Khan had stated that the local administration is reforming the hospitals not privatizing them. He assured that the functioning of government hospitals is moving towards betterment in KP.
The protest came after PTI-led KP government enforced Essential Services Act 1958 at all the government teaching hospitals across the province on Monday.
The announcement to end strike came as an eight member committee of doctors put forward their demands during the meeting with provincial government officials. Demands of the committee including those on service structure and health allowance were accepted.
Show cause notices and the orders for different postings and transfers were withdrawn by the KP government.
A consensus on improvements in Post Graduate Medical Institutes (PGMI) was also reached during the talks.
In an earlier public address in Wazirabad, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said that KP government would bring reforms in hospitals even if it costs them the government.
