IN the wake of the recent floods, the lady health workers (LHWs), whose job is always concerned with different aspects of the health of women and children, were ordered by the relevant authorities to conduct a survey in their respective work areas and submit a report in this regard.

The LHWs are always at the beck and call of the relevant authorities; be it polio eradication campaign or a vaccination drive. They carried out what they had been asked to, but, unlike in the past when they were paid for their work, they are not being paid currently even though the survey was not part of their official duties. They were not even provided with any transport facility to perform the task.

The LHWs in the interior of Sindh, or anywhere else in the country, are mostly the sole breadwinners of their families. They remain in constant fear when they are at work, since there is no surety of their safety because they are not provided security cover.

By not providing the LHWs what they truely deserve, the relevant authorities are only discouraging them from under-taking any future task assigned to them.

Muneer Ahmed
Nawabshah

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2022