Nurses in hot waters for informing media about baby theft
Karachi: The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) administration on Tuesday issued show-cause notices to nurses’ representatives on charges inviting the media to the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) following the abduction of an infant from the children’s hospital.
Those who were issued show-cause notices included Young Nurses Association (YNA) President Muhammad Iqbal Arain, YNA Senior Vice-President Khair-un-Nisa, YNA General Secretary Syed Shahid Iqbal and YNA Coordinator Shahida Bukhari.
They were charged with inviting the media to the institute, besides creating chaos, politicising the issue, threatening to lodge an FIR against the NICH director and creating trouble for the NICH management.
JPMC Office Superintendent Riaz Gul issued the notices on behalf of its Executive Director Tasnim Ahsan.
When contacted, YNA General Secretary Syed Shahid Iqbal said that their association had decided to challenge these notices in court.
He said that being the nurses’ representatives, it was their duty to protect the nurses’ rights.
He said that they had protested against the illegal arrest of a staff nurse, Farzana Saleem, who was not involved in the baby kidnapping case. He denied all charges and termed it harassment by the JPMC administration.
Iqbal said that the JPMC administration was subjecting the nurses to victimisation, instead of enhancing their security and removing other lapses at the hospital.
He claimed that after the incident, the administration had started harassing the nurses’ representatives through constantly changing their duties.
YNA Senior Vice-President Khair-un-Nisa said that they were being punished for raising their voice for an innocent nurse.
JPMC Executive Director Tasnim Ahsan, JPMC Director Seemi Jamali and Deputy Director Muhammad Akhtar Anwar were not available for comments despite several attempts.
Staff nurse Farzana Saleem was declared innocent after investigation but a trainee nurse, Sobia, and a couple, Farzana and Akbar Awan, had been arrested and the baby was recovered from them.
Source: The News
Date:11/30/2011
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