Police baton charge medical students

LAHORE:Lahore Police resorted to baton charge and use of tear gas against medical students protesting against National Licensing Exam (NLE) here on Friday.

The medical graduates have been protesting against the NLE for a long time which has been declared mandatory by Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) to get a practicing license. MBBS and BDS students must have to clear the NLE for their jobs and practice in Pakistan. Medical students gathered in Barkat Market area and protested outside the exam centre for quite some time. Police came into action when the protesters allegedly tried to enter the test centre to boycott NLE.

The doctors alleged that police took action against peaceful protesters. In order to disperse the protesting students, police used tear gas and even baton charged the students owing to which some were also injured and were taken to hospital for medical treatment. Talking to ‘The News’, Dr Arslan Asif, a spokesperson for the NLE movement said that PMC had assured that the issue related to NLE would be resolved through dialogue but to no avail. He added the medical graduates, house officers and young doctors were protesting peacefully but they were severely tortured by police.

He said that over a dozen of the protesters had to be admitted to General Hospital, Jinnah Hospital, Services Hospital, Mayo Hospital and Sheikh Zayed Hospital due to alleged use of sulfuric acid attack, use of water cannons and baton charge. He also criticised the PMC for its policies. Meanwhile, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) condemned police action against the medical students.