ISLAMABAD: Doctors and paramedic staff of five government-run hospitals in the federal capital have announced a two-hour strike daily from today (Thursday) to press their demand for unfreezing of their health risk allowance.

Dr Sartaj Ali Khan, Chairman of their Joint Action Committee (JAC), told reporters at Polyclinic on Wednesday that they also plan a rally and a sit-in outside the Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Finance because they had been protesting for over a month but nobody listened to their grievance.

“From Thursday, out patient departments of all five hospitals will remain closed from 11am to 1pm, though the emergency and intensive care units will remain open,” he said. “On September 8 we will go to the PM Office and the Ministry of Finance to record our protest.”

Member JAC Dr Sharif Astori said that the medical staff did not wish to resort to strike but the denial of the risk health allowance had created severe financial problems for them.

“The government should consider the problem of the staff and unfreeze their rightful allowance, which involves an additional amount of only Rs30 million. But the government is taking our misery lightly,” he said.

“We don’t wish to go on strike and street protests but disdainful officials have left us with no other option,” he added.

Dr Sartaj recalled to Dawn that Additional Secretary Finance Naseem Khokhar had sought one week to address the issue when the JAC members met him on August 20.

“When we met again on August 26, Mr Khokhar requested two more days and on the 28th he told us that he had forwarded a summary to the finance secretary and the next time we should contact the secretary. But Secretary finance Dr Waqar Masood refused to meet us,” he said.

That made the JAC team seek out Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. “He was present in his office, but had no time for us. His staff promised to call us later but never did.”

Since Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed had told it during a meeting on August 21 that he had written a letter to the Secretary Finance, the Joint Action Committee team again turned to him.

“Although Mr Aftab called and suggested to the secretary finance to solve our problem, it seems the officialdom is not bothered by our right to the allowance nor our misery,” said Dr Sartaj.

“This leaves us no option but to observe strike in the hospitals and agitate in the streets,” he said.

They blocked the road in front of the Polyclinic on August 6 and staged a protest rally outside the National Press Club on July 11 to register their anger.

The health risk allowance was approved by the last PPP government in 2011 in the wake of a 35-day continuous protest by the medical staff outside the Parliament building.

According to the agreement reached then the health risk allowance was to be increased every year equal to the increase in the basic salary. But the current year’s federal budget froze the allowance.

Since the announcement of the budget in June, the affected health workers of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), Polyclinic, Capital Hospital, Federal General Hospital and National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, have been protesting and demanding the unfreezing of health risk allowance.

The health care allowance is given to the healthcare personnel who are exposed to different types of blood-borne and radiation-related diseases, for example Hepatitis B and C, Cancer, Needle or Sharp instrument stick injuries, Tuberculosis etc, while providing care to infectious patients.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2015

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