ISLAMABAD: The employees of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and the All Pakistan Secretariat Employees Coordination Council (APSECC) together with All Pakistan Clerk Association (APCA) continued their protest drive on Tuesday in favour of their demands.
The PIMS employees have been protesting for the last many weeks against the Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) Ordinance due to which all services in the federal capital’s major hospital remained suspended, except in the Covid-19 ward and the Emergency department.
According to Dr Asfandyar Khan, chairman of the Grand Health Alliance, they would continue the protest till the government withdraws the ordinance, and accepts their demands.
The government promulgated the ordinance in November last year, under which the hospital would be run through a board of governors, which the employees have rejected.
The protesting PIMS employees were of the view that as a result of the ordinance they would lose job security, pension, and would no longer be entitled to government accommodation, plots of the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) and a number of other benefits. “The government intends to snatch free treatment facility from patients by privatizing the hospital. We will not surrender until the government withdraws the ordinance,” Dr Asfandyar Khan said.
Addressing the protesting PIMS employees, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) local leader Syed Sibte Hussain Bukhari, lashed out at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s “anti-people and anti-employees” policies. He said that every segment of the society were on the streets against the “anti-people” policies of the government. “But the days of the “selected” government are numbered and they will be shown the doors very soon,” he added. The PPP local leader also expressed solidarity with the protesting employees on behalf of his party and also assured them of their support.
The protests by those of the PIMS employees and separately by employees of the federal secretariat together with the All Pakistan Clerk Association are being held at a time when the opposition political parties are also making an effort under the umbrella of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to press the government to step down. However, there is no nexus between the protests, and that of the PDM.
Representatives of the APSECC speaking on the occasion said that protesters in December on the assurance of the government to fulfill their demands had ended their strike but since then the government has not taken a single step in implementing their demands, therefore, they have resumed their protest.
They reminded Prime Minister Imran Khan of his promises made prior to becoming the PM, and urged the government to fulfill the promises made with the poor segment of the society. They vowed to continue their strike which will be followed by a sit-in outside the parliament house till the fulfillment of their demands.
The protesters were also joined by the APCA Punjab chapter.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021