The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Lady Health workers, supervisors and their supportive staff have announced boycott from all type of duties, including anti-polio campaign amid delay of their salaries for eight months and failure of department in fulfilling its promises.
It was said the provincial general secretary of lady health workers association, Shahid Ahmad while addressing news conference in Bisham on Monday. Shangla chapter office bearers Nooren from Chakesar, Azema Bibi from Puran and Fazilat from Alpuri were also present on the occasion.
Mr Shahid said after consultation with all government employees’ coordination council’s provincial president, Aslam Khan, the union had decided to boycott duties.
LHWs union general secretary, Shahid Ahmad said the boycott decision was taken by the provincial president, Almin Iftikhar and as she said that it would continue until their demands did not met.
He said the LHWs issues had increased in the last 4-5 years, the government neither regularized them nor paying the salaries on time, delayed for months.
“We (project based employees) have not received our salary for the last eight months that badly affected our economic status. Every LHW, LHS and driver debited of neighbours, shopkeepers of our respective areas,” He said.
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Mr Shahid added that there were total 17000 regular LHWs and 4000 of the integrated health project recruited after 2015 but despite the court orders, decisions the government yet to regularize the project based LHWs.
Lady health supervisor, Fazilat from Alpuri said that she had LHWs among them hard hit by their economical condition and even struggling for livelihood for their children.
She said their department did not fulfill its responsibilities, providing stationery to LHWs and medicines but forcing their poor community to perform the hectic duty in every season and hard terrains.
LHW said the supreme court of Pakistan in 2018 and Peshawar high court in 2016 had given a verdict asking the government to regularize LHWs recruited from 2015 onwards but the court orders could not be implemented as yet.
Azeema Bibi said their provincial leadership had taken up these issues before the department and government ministers several times and held protests in Peshawar but despite their assurances the issues yet to be addressed.
The LHWs association office bearers said that their boycott from anti-polio campaigns and routine duties would be continued until their demands not accepted by the government released their total pending salaries of the last eight months because the government did not take their issues seriously.
They also said that protests were being recorded in the district health officers offices across the province to force the government to accept their demands.
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