LAHORE - Rejecting government offer of appointment on contract for three years and regularisation in service after lapse of that period, one group of ad hoc nurses continued sit-in outside Punjab Assembly on Sunday.
Although a large number of nurses left the venue and reached their respective public sector hospitals for receiving appointment orders, dozens of determined ladies stuck to their guns and vowed to continue protest till regularization of service. They chanted slogans against the government and demanded regularisation of service. They vowed not to leave the venue until issuance of notification. One ad hoc nurse from Multan was rushed to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital after she fell unconscious during protest.
Besides representatives of opposition parties including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan People’s Party, Labour Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, members of civil society organizations, delegations of Young Doctors Association and Punjab Paramedics Alliance reached the venue to express solidarity with protesting nurses. They demanded the government to accept demand unconditionally and regularize ad hoc nurses without any delay.
Advisor to Chief Minister on Health Kh Salman Rafiq distributed appointment orders among 67 nurses at Lahore General Hospital. Parliamentary Secretary Health Kh Imran Nazir, Secretary Health Babar Hayat Tarar, Director General Health Dr Zahid Pervaiz, Principal Post Graduate Medical Institute/LGH Prof Anjum Habib Vohra, Medical Superintendent LGH Ghulam Sabir and Dg Nursing Punjab were also present. He later distributed appointment letters among nurses at Mayo Hospital.
Kh Salman Rafiq said that the process of distribution of appointment letters among ad hoc nurses would be completed at all hospitals across the province within couple of days. He said that these nurses would be regularized after completion of contract period and that too without examination from Punjab Public Service Commission. He said that this was the only solution to resolve the issue as contract and not hoc nurses could be regularized without PPSC examination.