SHANGLA: Lady health workers here have announced that they will boycott the upcoming anti-polio campaign over non-payment of salary for last eight months.

Talking to reporters here on Sunday, LHWs, their supervisors and drivers said they had been suffering from mental stress due financial constraints.

Shahid Khan, information secretary of the lady health workers’ association, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said despite promises, the government was yet to release their salaries.

He said they had long been complaining about non-payment of salary, but the authorities concerned were unmoved.

“LHWs are putting their lives at risk while performing in harsh weather conditions amid threats from terrorists, but the government has no mercy on us,” he added.

According to the Shangla health department, a total of 324 LHWs are currently performing in the district, out of whom, 192, who are working under the Integrated Health Project (IHP), have not been paid for last eight months.

Abeha Khan, an LHW, said she had got fed up with her job because of non-payment of salary. She said while their seniors were paid on time, they were made to wait for months.

Ms Abeha claimed they even arranged transport from their own pockets to reach their duty station. “I paid Rs1,500 from my own pocket to arrange for transport to reach the polling station during the last elections.”

Rawayat Bibi, another LHW, claimed she was forced to buy stationery and other items from her own pockets.

She appealed to the government to pay their salaries at the earliest so that she could return the borrowed money to her neighbours and shopkeepers.

When contacted, Dr Iftikhar Khan, coordinator LHWs programme, told Dawn that provincial director of IHP Fayyaz Sherpao had promised payment of salary within two months.

WINTER PACKAGE: Al-Khidmat Foundation on Sunday distributed winter package among the deserving families of Shangla.

A ceremony to this effect was held in Alpuri.

The foundation’s local chapter leader Mohammad Tufail Khan and others distributed the winter package among 80 families. The package included warm clothes, blankets and quilts.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2024