Protesting nurses threaten complete strike if demands not met

Islamabad : Protesting nurses of federal government hospitals Monday threatened a full-fledged strike on D-Chowk, should the government continue to lend a deaf ear to their longstanding demands.

The demands of the nurses include timescale promotions as per Estacode rules; induction of additional nursing staff in order to bridge the widening nurse-patient ratio and to decrease workload; increase in nurses’ stipend to a minimum of Rs40,000 so that it is brought at par with the amount being paid in KPK and Punjab; increase in mess and kit allowance so that it is raised to Rs11,000 per month (equivalent to other provinces); award of Nursing Professional Allowance of Rs10,000 per month as prevalent in other provinces; de-freezing of the Health Risk Allowance equal to basic running salary; award of proper accommodation to nurses as per their entitlement quota; exemption of night shift duties of nurses who have completed 20 years of service or have reached 50 years of age; and handing over of the possession of nurses’ hostels to nursing administrations.

“We are on the roads today only because of the incompetence of the government. It has been three years now since we have been trying to have our demands met without patient care being compromised.

This is our final call to the Prime Minister, the PM’s Special Advisor on Health, and the Parliament. If we are ignored this time, we will embark on a full-fledged strike, and the government alone will squarely be responsible for the repercussions,” the General Secretary of the Poly Clinic Nursing Association Yaqoob Bashir stated during the nurses’ token strike.

Wearing black armbands, the protesting nurses said, their charter of demands has been rotting in official files long enough, and that they have now run out of patience. Referring to the acute shortage of nurses in hospitals and the resultant workload that they have to endure, they stated that the nurse to patient ration in PIMS, Poly Clinic, CDA Hospital, and NIRM is 1:50 as against 1:2. “We are being pushed against the wall. Enough is enough. Neither the Minister, nor the Secretary Health have thus far acted to address our genuine grievances,” they stated.

The protesters also pointed out that even though nurses spend as many years in acquiring education as doctors, they are inducted in grade 16 and retire in the same grade in spite of dedicating their entire lives to the profession.

“Each time that we table our demands, we are served with a sugar-coated pill and the matter is pushed to the backburner,” another nurse stated. Yaqoob Bashir added, “We do not want patients to suffer, but if the government does not budge, we will be left with no option but to hold a full-fledged strike.” He said, even though nurses are the mainstay of the healthcare system, their welfare is at the rock bottom of the government’s priority list.