PESHAWAR: The contractual doctors here on Monday staged a sit-in outside the provincial assembly building against the delay in their regularisation. The provincial government had hired them to cope with the coronavirus-induced health emergency

Doctors belonging to various parts of the province attended the demonstration. Holding banners and placards inscribed with their demands, the doctors demanded regularisation and on-time payment of salaries.

The protesting doctors complained they had been presenting their demands to the relevant authorities for last over one year but to no avail. They said the doctors played active role during health emergencies, adding while dealing with Covid-19 pandemic several doctors had lost their lives.

The protesters said the government had hired 1,200 doctors in 2020 for tackling the pandemic, but their efforts were not rewarded.

The doctors threatened that they won’t take part in any future vaccination campaign if their jobs were not regularised.

Leaders of different political parties, including Pakistan Peoples Party’s MPA Nighat Orakzai, Jamaat-i-Islami’s Humaira Khatoon, Awami National Party’s Samar Haroon Bilour and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s Bushra Khatoon visited the protesting doctors and assured them of their support in and out of the assembly.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2022