L AHORE: Doctors, nurses and paramedics employed in the public sector on Monday staged a protest against the government`s decision to outsource the state-run health facilities of the province.

The agitation was lodged under the banner of the `Grand Health Alliance`.

Scores of doctors, nurses and paramedics gathered on The Mall outside the Punjab Assembly and staged a sit-in by blocking the road for traffic.

Addressing the protesters, Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab president Dr Shoib Niazi alleged the bureaucracy in the health sector was misguiding Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz by distorting facts.

He said that the outsourcing of the government health facilities, including teaching hospitals etc, would render thousands of employees, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, jobless. In Lahore, he said, the Punjab government has started privatisation by outsourcing the Jinnah Hospital, a major teaching institute.

He threatened to expand the scope of the protest if the decision was not reviewed, keeping in view the serious concerns of the employees.