Pakistan: Paramedics protest in Quetta against privatisation of hospitals

Quetta [Pakistan]: Grand Health Alliance, Balochistan staged a protest on Saturday opposing the government’s plan to privatise hospitals in the provincial capital, Dawn reported.

A significant number of government hospital staff, including paramedics and nurses, assembled at Civil Hospital and marched through the main roads and streets of Quetta.

According to Dawn, the alliance leaders Salam Zehri, Jamal Shah Kakar, Haji Shafaa Mengal, Lala Sultan, and others addressed the protesters.

They expressed discontent, stating that rather than focusing on improving facilities in hospitals, the government is contemplating privatising them.

The participants held protests, chanted slogans against the government, and criticised the plan, according to the report.

The protesters demanded the removal of Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti and declared him ‘incompetent’, Dawn reported.

They called for raising the standards of hospitals and ensuring the availability of free healthcare to the public, rather than transferring ownership to private entities.

“Instead of giving hospitals private ownership, their conditions should be improved so that free healthcare can be made available to people,” one of the protesters was quoted by Dawn a saying.
They pledged to oppose privatisation and urged the government to reassess its decision.
They also claimed that they met the provincial health secretary to discuss the issue while informing the authorities of their stance and reservations.

Healthcare in Pakistan has been on life-support in the recent past. A report by Dawn in November 2023 claimed the closure of six hospitals in Pakistan after a funding request was denied.

The source added that the situation may worsen further as a number of doctors, nurses, and other staff in the hospitals are either not getting their salaries or fear that their wages will be stopped next month due to the unavailability of funds.

The country’s health ministry requested the finance ministry release a supplementary grant of PKR 11.096 billion for the smooth functioning of hospitals, organisations, and ancillary departments of the ministry, Dawn reported.