Employees of government hospitals across Sindh have announced a boycott of all outpatient departments (OPDs) from Tuesday until their demands — including a 50% rise in disparity allowance and a 70% increase in salaries — are met.
The protesters have urged the provincial government to raise salaries of all permanent staff from grade 1 to 22 by 70%, ensure timely payments of group insurance and benevolent fund, and categorically rule out any deductions from pensions.
Leaders of the Grand Health Alliance, which includes the Pakistan Medical Association, Young Doctors Association, Young Nurses Association, Allied Health Professionals Association Sindh, Sindh Paramedical Staff, Young Paramedics, and Sindh Employees Alliance, said the strike will affect all OPDs and administrative offices, with only emergency services to remain operational.
The decision was taken during a GHA meeting at Karachi’s Civil Hospital, attended by several senior figures including Sindh Employees Alliance Chairman Haji Muhammad Ashraf Khaskheli.
Union leaders stressed that the boycott was not a political move but an attempt to secure long-denied rights for government health workers. “This action has been taken for the approval of legitimate demands,” they said, warning that the shutdown would continue until the government takes “concrete and positive steps.”
They further vowed that employees across Sindh’s government hospitals stood united on a single platform and would not hesitate to make sacrifices for their rights.
