RAWALPINDI, Dec 4: Hundreds of angry doctors here on Thursday blocked the busy Benazir Bhutto Road for over five hours years as a protest against the Punjab government’s decision to impose ban on the training of foreign and private medical colleges’ graduates at the government hospitals.

Traffic came to a virtual halt causing inconvenience to motorists and commuters as the doctors blocked the busy road. The police on the occasion surrounded the angry young doctors but refrained from taking any action against them. The protest was observed after the Punjab government issued a notification on Wednesday that reads: “No graduate from private sector institutions be entertained for house job or internship or for honorary job in government hospitals across Punjab.”

The Young Doctors Association (YDA) has strongly condemned the decision and demanded the provincial government to withdraw the decision as, it said, the move would ruin the medical careers of thousands of doctors in the country.

The young doctors, majority of them from other provinces, alleged the decision of the government was based on ethnicity, adding that there was no such rule in the other three provinces and AJK.

Chief coordinator YDA at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) Dr Sherin M K Yousafzai vowed to resist the ‘cruel’ decision by staging protest demonstrations across the province.

The doctors were holding banners and chanting slogans against Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. They regretted that on one hand the private medical colleges were recognised by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) while on the other the Punjab government was banning the training of the doctors qualified from these colleges.

“We will daily boycott medical services and block the roads. The Punjab government should immediately withdraw the decision or should face our protest,” Dr Yousafzai said.

However, MNA Hanif Abbasi later assured the doctors that the notification would be withdrawn and urged them to continue their duties in the hospital.