BAJAUR: Doctors and paramedics of the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Pashat, in Salarzai tehsil on Monday boycotted their duties in protest against the non-payment of their salary for last 11 months.

The protesting staffers gathered on the hospital’s premises and chanted slogans against the management of Trans-Continental Pharma (TCP) that runs the hospital for not releasing their salary.

The hospital is run on the basis of public-private partnership, and the TCP is provided funds by the provincial government for running the health facility.

They also lashed out at the provincial finance department for not releasing the funds to the TCP management, so that it could pay them their salary.

The doctors and paramedics pointed out that they had been serving in the hospital since it was handed over to TCP in October 2022. But, they lamented that they were never paid their salary on time, which was violation of the agreement reached between them and the TCP management.

They said non-payment of salary had pushed them into dire financial straits. They said they were committed to their job to provide services to patients as it was the only health facility in the entire tehsil.

However, they added the prolonged delay in release of their salary had badly disappointed them, forcing some of their colleagues to quit their jobs.

The medics demanded of the caretaker provincial government to release funds for the company so that it could pay their salaries with immediate effect.

They regretted that their strike would surely affect the patient care, but they had no other option but to protest.

Meanwhile, patients and their attendants expressed concern over the suspension of services at the hospital due to the strike. They demanded of the district administration and health department to ensure the smooth functioning of the hospital.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2024