KARACHI: Protesting nurses on Wednesday announced that they had ended their agitation after “successful” negotiations with the secretary of health late in the evening.
“Our demands are accepted in a meeting with health secretary Usman Chachar and we are ending our protest,” claimed Aijaz Kaleri, a member of the protesters’ action committee. He did not elaborate which of their 10 demands were accepted by the government.
Before they were invited by the health secretary at his office, the nurses continued their protest for the third day running for their demands about allowances and promotions while hospitals in the city and elsewhere in Sindh reported hardships in routine healthcare delivery.
The nurses stayed away from public-sector hospitals barring emergencies and ICUs and persisted with their sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club.
Representatives of the Joint Nurses Action Committee (JNUC) had warned they would hold rallies and withdraw their colleagues from emergency positions if the Sindh government did not meet their demands.
Better salaries, health allowances and promotion to better grades were their key demands.
Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2018
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