The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s lady health workers, working under the integrated health project have been facing financial constraints as their salaries have been pending for the last 8 months.
LHW’s association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s information secretary, Shahid Khan, LHWs Taj Nissa, Fauzia, Shabana, Sawera, Andaleb, and others said they had been working in the health department for the last 7-10 years and not been regularized but ironically not paid salaries for months.
Shahid Khan said it had been five months that integrated health project LHWs, LHSs and drivers did not receive their salaries and borrowing money from friends, and neighbours for their activities.
He said it was only their department delaying salaries of the poor class who paid their duties in hard terrains in challenging situations to reach out to mothers and children for healthcare services.
Taj Nissa an LHW from Bisham said their duty became difficult with each passing day because without salary performing duty was not possible and for how long they would borrow from their relatives and eventually, they would stop giving them debt.
She said their reporting officers always forced them to perform their duties, including dengue, anti-polio, routine immunization and their basic duty of mother and child healthcare and collecting data of births but never turned to play their due role to ensure provision of salaries timely.
LHS Sawera said they could not work further if their department had not concern of their financial constraints that pushing them into mental disorders and making their lives hard.
She said lady health supervisors had not been paid their POL and vehicles repair payment due to which they could not travel in faulty vehicles that could cause fatal accident.
LHWs union said if their salaries and POL were not paid within a week they would boycott all type of duties closing their activities.
Doctor Abdul Samad, coordinator LHWs program in Shangla when contacted, he told The Northern Post that he had submitted several request to the provincial authorities for releasing salaries of the LHWs but to no avail.
