KP govt releases 35 arrested health workers after mediation

PESHAWAR: After mediation by retired senior doctors, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Friday released all the 35 health workers, including doctors, paramedics and nursing staff, as a goodwill gesture, but the protesters refused to call off the strike till the acceptance of the demands.The government had arrested them during a protest rally at the Lady Reading Hospital on September 27. The doctors, paramedics, nursing staff and non-technical staff of the public sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been on strike since September 27. They paralysed health services in all the government-run hospitals across the province. The health workers went on a strike when the police used batons and teargas shells to disperse the protesting doctors, paramedics and nursing staff on September 27 who were opposing the recently adopted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Regional and District Health Authorities Act 2019. Some of the doctors, paramedics and nursing staff suffered injuries in the police action. They announced a province-wide strike by suspending services in all the government hospitals.The police had arrested 35 health workers and sent them to the Mardan jail. All the public sector hospitals have been closed since September 27 and the patients suffered. The government couldn't take serious efforts to resolve this issue. The government and the protesting health workers have adopted a rigid stance so far and the ultimate sufferers of this standoff are the patients.

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