The protest movement launched by the Grand Health Alliance (GHA) in Balochistan against the privatization of hospitals, which began in October 2024, temporarily concluded on January 22, 2025, with successful negotiations.
PTUS congratulate the Health Department employees and GHA leadership on this achievement. It is important to note that the Grand Health Alliance—a coalition of 16 stakeholder organizations working within Balochistan’s Health Department—advanced its campaign through protests, sit-ins, conferences, and token strikes from October 2024 to January 1, 2025.
Notably, on January 1, 2025, the GHA organized an All-Parties Conference, where it briefed participants on the protest movement, hospital privatization, and broader issues within the Health Department. Prior to this conference, the incompetent provincial government and corrupt bureaucracy, leveraging judicial intervention, threatened the GHA on December 30 to abandon its strike plans and dissolve its associations, while simultaneously banning political activities in all public institutions.
Quetta: Workers leader Karim Parhar speaking at the All-Parties Conference. Source: RCP
From January 1 to January 11, 2025, a series of meetings and negotiations took place. However, on January 11, GHA Chairman Dr. Bahar Shah and former provincial president of the Young Doctors Association (YDA) Dr. Hafeez Mandokhail were arrested under false charges by plainclothes individuals on Inscomb Road near a hospital and transferred to Civil Lines Police Station. Following judicial intervention, GHA leadership declared, “Our protests will continue until our demands are met and the incompetent government withdraws its privatization agenda.”
Additionally, several YDA members were arrested, and house raids became routine. In response to the provincial government’s unjust actions, the YDA—a GHA member—began receiving solidarity messages from across Pakistan. Two days later, YDA chapters nationwide launched token strikes.
While the GHA secured bail for detainees, as soon as its leaders were to be released, Dr. Bahar Shah and Dr. Hafeez Mandokhail were re-arrested under the 3-MPO ordinance for one month by the Deputy Commissioner’s office. This escalation prompted YDA Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, and the national YDA to issue a countrywide strike ultimatum, with all associations boycotting OPDs for two hours daily.
Consequently, the incompetent provincial government, corrupt bureaucracy, and judiciary faced mounting pressure. On January 23, they theatrically “negotiated” with GHA leaders, released them, and revoked all suspension orders and retaliatory actions taken during the protests. The GHA suspended its movement on January 23.
Achievements
On September 16, 2024, the GHA presented a 15-point Charter of Demands opposing privatization and outlining core grievances, summarized below:
- Complete rejection of privatization.
- Permanent appointments in the Health Department.
- Financial autonomy for hospitals.
- Appointment of doctors to management cadres and technical posts.
- Provision of medicines and surgical equipment in hospitals.
- Establishment of ICUs in all teaching hospitals.
- 24-hour radiology and lab services in all teaching hospitals.
- Angiography and angioplasty services in all teaching hospitals.
- Appointment of Divisional Directors at DHQ hospitals.
- Construction of surgical/medical towers at Quetta Civil Hospital.
- Trauma centers and surgical/medical towers at Sheikh Zayed Hospital.
- Ensuring functionality of existing trauma centers.
- Operationalization of nursing colleges and paramedic colleges in every division.
- Eviction of unauthorized occupants from Health Department residential colonies.
- Announcement of new vacancies for doctors, nurses, paramedics, clerks, and staff.
Following negotiations, all demands were validated, with assurances of swift implementation. Future “reforms” in the Health Department will require consultation with all GHA stakeholders.
Lessons
The GHA’s struggle offers critical lessons. First, the unity of all 16 Health Department organizations proved to workers that collective power can defeat the anti-worker policies of the incompetent government, corrupt bureaucracy, and judiciary. This coalition demonstrated that hospitals in Balochistan cannot function without the consent of their workers.
The struggle also exposed the limitations of fragmented sector-specific unions. Nurses, paramedics, doctors, and clerks transcended their divisions under the slogan, “One’s pain is everyone’s pain,” showcasing the need for broader worker unity under a single union/association. Despite state attempts to fracture the GHA, solidarity prevailed.
Second, the struggle revealed the class-based, anti-worker role of the judiciary—a “savior” illusion shattered for workers nationwide. The GHA defied anti-worker judicial orders, forcing the government and bureaucracy to capitulate.
Third, the YDA’s nationwide solidarity highlighted that worker unity must transcend race, ethnicity, religion, and sect, rooted solely in class solidarity to secure rights.
The GHA’s success has galvanized Balochistan’s workers, inspiring them to unite against future state assaults.
PTUS asserts that broader class unity and nationwide general strikes are essential to counter upcoming attacks on workers across Pakistan. To decisively defeat the bosses and uproot the system of oppression, workers must embrace a joint and organised struggle.
