LAHORE, Dec 6: The paramedics observed a province-wide strike at the government hospitals on Thursday in protest against ‘torture’ and arrest of their colleagues by the police.

The strike call was given by the Punjab Paramedical Alliance. Patients faced a great deal of inconvenience, particularly at major teaching and district hospitals where the paramedics had closed down several departments early in the morning.

In Lahore, tension mounted when the paramedics withdrew services at the OPDs of the teaching hospitals including Jinnah, Lahore General Hospital, Services, Sir Ganga Ram, Mayo, Children’s Hospital and Punjab Institute of Cardiology. Hundreds of patients returned without getting treatment.

Operations were also postponed as the attendants did not join duties. There was thin attendance of the paramedics even at the emergencies of the medical institutions.

The paramedics also locked diagnostic services including laboratories, CT-Scan, MRI, Ultrasound and X-Ray departments and a large number of patients admitted to the wards failed to get these facilities.

The low-cadre employees also took out rallies at the hospitals and staged sit-ins outside the admin offices. Hundreds of paramedics from all the teaching hospitals in the provincial capital reached Jinnah Hospital in groups and protested for four hours or so.

They raised slogans against the police, the bureaucracy (health and finance departments) and the Punjab government for showing indifference towards their legitimate demands.

The protestors later took out a rally from hospital’s admin block to the office of the Allama Iqbal Medical College principal.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Punjab Paramedical Alliance held a meeting with the health department officials at the Civil Secretariat.

PPA chairman Malik Munir, who led the delegation, told Dawn that Special Secretary Health Babar Hayat Tarrar had assured them of immediate issuance of notification of monthly health risk allowance of Rs1,500 for each paramedic from grade 1 to 4.

He further said the department would issue a separate notification of upgrade of vacancies of various categories. The secretary did not announce deadline of issuance of two notifications.

Mr Tarrar also assured the delegation that the service structure issue and regularisation of the paramedics would also be considered seriously after notifying the two major demands of the protestors, the PPA chairman said.

Keeping in view the assurance by the health department’s senior officials, Malik Munir said the PPA’s call for strike at the government hospitals had been withdrawn till Dec 11.