CHARSADDA: The ambulance drivers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa public sector hospitals staged a protest rally here on Friday against shifting of their services to the Rescue 1122.

The protesters after passing through various roads gathered at the Farooq Azam Chowk and chanted slogans against what they called unconstitutional and illegal action of the provincial government.

A large number of ambulance drivers from different districts of the province participated in the protest rally in Charsadda. They threatened to hold a protest sit-in in front of the provincial assembly building if their reservations were not removed.

Addressing the rally, health driver association president Akbar Bacha, general secretary Shabir Ahmed and others condemned the government’s decision to hand over services of the ambulance drivers to Rescue 1122 across the province. They said that they were permanent employees and transfer of their services to a project was illegal and unconstitutional.

They said the government could send the hospital employees to other department on deputation, but not on permanent basis. They said that the superannuation period in health department was 60 years, but in Rescue 1122 the retirement age had been set at 50.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2021