ISLAMABAD: Employees of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on Thursday established a permanent sit-in camp outside the hospital and also held a rally.

Pims employees have been demanding the hospital be separated from the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University and have held a number of protests. The current protest has continued for 16 days.

The protestors had announced earlier that they will announce an alternative strategy if their demand was not met by Oct 18. On Thursday, they decided to establish a permanent sit-in camp at the hospital.

Pims Employees Association spokesperson Dr Asfandyar Khan told Dawn that a delegation of employees had met with ministry officials on Thursday who had assured them the issue will be addressed soon. Employees decided to keep on protesting till their issues are addressed.

“We are holding token strikes from 8am to 11am and are trying our best to provide treatment to patients,” he said.

Pims Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram said he was also trying his best to get the hospital separated from the university as soon as possible.

“These kinds of issues take time and I suggest services be resumed to patients without delay,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2017