LHWs to march towards parliament if their demands not accepted

Lady Health care workers continued to protest for the sixth straight day on Monday at Islamabad’s D-Chowk, demanding an increase in their monthly pay.

At least 500 women, some with young children, have been protesting in the federal capital since Wednesday, as part of a larger protest by government employees against rising inflation.

Several other organisations left the same day, however, the lady worker, who are tasked to run vaccination campaigns in the country, and were recently mobilized to fight COVID-19, stayed on.

Rukhsana Anwar, National Programme Health Employees Federation President , who is leading the sit-in, talking to media said, “We will not leave until the government listens to us.”

She said protesters were waiting for their colleagues from Charsadda, Mardan and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before marching to the Parliament.

“At the moment we are organizing ourself, increasing our numbers, after which we will march towards the parliament to be heard.”

There are a total of 100,000 lady health care workers in the country, adds Anwar.

All negotiations broke down, as they were told their demands can only be met by the provincial government, not the federal.

“We want our pay scales to be increased. Some of these women have been working at the same grade without a promotion and a pay of less than Rs.20,000 per month for several years now,” she added.

She said LHWs have also received threats of departmental action if they do not call off the sit-in.