HYDERABAD: A group of lady health workers (LHWs) staged a sit-in outside Shahbaz Building in protest against non-payment of salaries to their 42 colleagues for the past one year.

They raised slogans in support of their demands and also blocked passage of government offices including Hyderabad divisional commissioner office.

Threatening to boycott the polio campaign, they said that although 42 workers had paid bribe to the relevant officials, but their online account system remained inactive.

LHWs Association president Hale­ema Leghari, Nabila Soomro, Shazia Kharo, Najma Kaka and others led the protest, demanding activation of accounts of the 42 LHWs.

They said corruption had reached its zenith in the health department.

They demanded the removal of a district coordinator and a clerk immediately. They said favourites were appointed for bribe in place of genuine LHWs, adding that LHWs always played an important role in all those campaigns, including that of polio eradication, that ensured protection to future generations.

They said their fuel budget was not allowed, which affected their work in campaigns. They said bribe culture had become too common in the health department. The clerk in question had been transferred, but was again posted in the said office, they added.

They ended their protest on the assurance of Dr Parvez Shaikh, additional district health officer. But, they said, boycott of the polio campaign starting on Dec 16 would continue.

They appealed to the Sindh chief minister and health secretary to ensure payment of last year’s salaries to the 42 LHWs.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2019