Labour Dept to reopen OPDs at own hospitals

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Labour Department on Friday decided to reopen the outpatient departments (OPDs) at their hospitals for selective specialities from next Monday, which were closed by the government due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

However, in view of the difficulties faced by the people, it was decided to reopen the selective OPDs in these hospitals. This decision was taken at a meeting chaired by the Minister for Labour and Culture Shaukat Yousafzai. The meeting was attended by Secretary Labour Kamran Rehman, Secretary Worker Welfare Board Bilal, Director-General ESSI Anwar Khan, Director Labour Irfan and Director Finance Taj Wali and others. The participants of the meeting were informed that doctors working in hospitals run by the Labour Department have been trained in fighting the coronavirus.

It was added that the Labour Department’s hospitals on the Kohat Road in Peshawar, Haripur, Dera Ismail Khan, Mardan, Takht Bhai, Nowshera, and Swabi will be opened for selective OPDs on Monday. The meeting also considered the wages of unemployed workers due to the closure of hotels, factories, shops and other business centres and issues of coalmine workers were also discussed. It was decided to facilitate to labourers. The minister said the department should talk to the owners of private hospitals, factories, hotels and shops to ensure that the unemployed workers get paid. He said the government had reopened 80 per cent of factories, including cement and sugar industry. Shaukat Yousafzai instructed the department to ensure payment of Rs 500,000 from the workers welfare board and Rs 300,000 from the lease owner for the coal mine workers.

He directed that the coalmine workers to be registered with the social security so that they could avail themselves of all the facilities under the social security.