Islamabad - The doctors called off their protest till Monday after the health minister constituted a committee to look into the issue of registration of their medical degrees obtained from China.
The committee will include three officials from health ministry, including Assad Hafeez, Azim Ghakhar, and AQ Javed, one official from ministry of law and justice, Khashi-ur-Rehman, and two representatives from students. The committee will convene its first meeting on 7th December, 2015 and will submit its report by 10th December, 2015.
Earlier, in the day negotiations between medical graduates and the health minister failed after which the doctors announced to continue protest.
Minister of State for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar taking the notice of ongoing protest of Pakistani students who completed their medical education from China constituted a three-member committee to address their issues. The committee members comprised of Dr Assad Hafeez, Director General Health, Dr Abid Farooqi, Member PMDC, and Member from Law Division, Khashi-ur- Rehman. But the students showing their reservations over the members of the committee announced to continue their protest. They were of the view that they have negotiated with these officials before who had decided against them so they don’t trust them.
The students started their protest again that was about to turn into clash as the police were provided with teargas and other security apparatus but the timely involvement of senior officials averted the situation. A new committee was formed as per the wishes of the students after which the students called off the protest till Monday.
The minister requested the medical students, who have been protesting since Monday last, to avoid creating any inconvenience to PMDC in its working. She directed the local administration to handle the situation amicably.
The protesting students are demanding registration of their medical degrees without taking equivalency exam of PMDC, while the PMDC is not ready to accept this demand.