Unpaid SZH doctors, staff continue strike

LAHORE:The ongoing strike and protest by doctors, nurses and paramedical staff continued in Shaikh Zayed Hospital (SZH), Lahore on fifth consecutive day on Wednesday due to non-payment of salaries.

The outdoor/OPD services remained closed and protest demonstration was staged by Young Doctors Association (YDA), Young Nurses Association (YNA) and Paramedical Alliance within hospital premises. They were raising slogans against the federal government and the hospital administration for not paying salaries to the doctors, nurses and other medical staff.

The hospital administration and the federal government are responsible for this mismanagement, which caused non-payment of salaries. In present circumstances of back-breaking inflation, the protesters said, it is extremely cruel not to pay salaries to the staff for several months, which unacceptable.

The mismanagement has also caused non-availability of medicines and patients are left at the mercy of private mafia even for minor lab tests. The Young Doctors Association, SZH chapter, President Dr Hasan Raza Kathia said that salaries have not been paid to the hospital staff for more than two months. There is a severe shortage of medicines in Shaikh Zayed Hospital, even syringes, life-saving medicines and X-ray films are not available. “There are no medical supplies or surgical instruments or equipment, only beds are free in Sheikh Zayed Hospital, all other equipment comes from outside the hospital by putting burden on the patients,” he added.

The outdoor services will be closed on Thursday (today) and a massive protest will be recorded. The staff warned to expand the scope of the protest if their demands are not met. “All the responsibility of any mishap lies on hospital administration, which is completely indifferent to the problems of the hospital staff,” they added.