While Sunday may be synonymous with snooze-fest among most work-goers, yesterday was a particularly restless day for nurses from a nursing institute in Punjab.
The nurses took to the streets along with members of civil society to protest against the expulsion of a number of their brethren from the institute for using mobile phones during work – a decision taken by EDO Health, Doctor Mukhtar.
Leaving aside the claims and counter claims to police mistreatment during the expulsion, I stand by Dr Mukhtar’s decision to penalise this misdemeanor. Nurses should not be allowed to use their mobile phones during work hours – no logical explanations required. It is a rule, hence it should be followed.
Institutions in the country have developed a somewhat lazy eye when it comes to the scrutiny of misconduct within an association. Transgressions are not brought to light as there is either an absence of a vigilant regulatory body that implements disciplinary rules, or the existing body lacks the will to apply these rules due to laziness or (in some cases) corruption. Additionally, if (and this is rare) wrongdoers are caught and told that action will be taken against them, they react defensively and lobby a mud-slinging campaign against the administration. It’s a classic case of ‘pehle chori, upar se seena zori’.
The incident makes me wish that the Pakistan Cricket Board had been more watchful over our cricket team, and substantiated its ‘zero tolerance for corruption’ approach with something more than just that statement in the wake of the spot-fixing allegations that have tainted our beloved game. Had the board thoroughly investigated previous match fixing allegations and cracked down on cricketers by punishing them, the issue may have been nipped in the bud.
So in the end, it is small steps like expulsion for mobile phone usage that build an atmosphere of accountability in an institution and eventually, in a nation. It is a slow process, and it may be painful (for those addicted to their mobile phones at work) but these baby steps are what need to be taken – not taking to the streets to justify wrong actions.