Patients reporting at the outpatient departments (OPDs) of public sector hospitals in the city had to return home without getting treatment as doctors and paramedical staff boycotted health services in protest, demanding restoration of Covid-19 health risk allowance. The healthcare providers were protesting on a strike call given by the Grand Health Alliance Sindh which is a conglomerate of the organisations of doctors, paramedics and nurses. The demands put forward by the alliance include restoration of the health risk allowance on a permanent basis, increase in the house rent allowance, regularisation of all doctors hired on contract basis, issuance of a notification for health professional allowance to all healthcare providers and appointment of nursing and paramedical staff on vacant positions at tertiary care hospitals. “We believe it’s not just the coronavirus posing a risk to healthcare staff, but also diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. Hence, the risk allowance should be restored on a permanent basis,” said a doctor participating in the protest.The alliance vowed to continue their protest till their demands were met by the government. The health department has recently notified discontinuation of the health risk allowance on the grounds of “weakening severity of Covid-19 pandemic in the province”. Under the previous order, the department was giving Rs17,000 to Rs35,000 risk allowance to doctors according to their grade. OPDs of all major government hospitals remained closed as paramedics, doctors and nurses there boycotted their duties in protest against withdrawal of the risk allowance by Sindh government.
