LAHORE: Young nurses continued their protest on the third consecutive day on Wednesday to press the government in favour of their demands.

In a late night development on Tuesday, the protesting nurses split into two groups when the senior nursing staff left the venue of agitation after negotiations with the health authorities.

The young nurses who were appointed on an ad hoc basis vowed to continue their agitation. Gathered on Egerton Road at 10am on Tuesday, they continued to occupy the road till Wednesday night. They refused to leave the place till the reinstatement of their young colleagues and regularisation of their services.

On Wednesday, the health department conveyed a message to the protesting nurses that they could not be regularised under the given rules due to their ad hoc status. The nurses, however, rejected the claim of the health department.

They alleged the admin officials of teaching hospitals had been pressurising their senior colleagues and office bearers of the Young Nursing Association, Punjab.

They claimed their senior colleagues postponed agitation on Wednesday in the wake of threats given to them by principals and medical superintendents of the teaching hospitals.

The protesting nurses alleged the health officials played a ‘dirty’ role in dividing them. They also announced, at the protest camp, new office bearers of the YNA.

Meanwhile opposition leaders including Mahmood Rasheed reached Egerton Road to show solidarity with the young nurses.

The police deputed at the protest venue barred nurses from erecting tents which they had arranged to spend night.

A representative of the young nurses told the media that some officials in the health department had misled the chief minister about the rules and regulations.

She said the health authorities had regularised ad hoc nurses in the past but were now reluctant to follow this to accommodate candidates of their choice.

The Mayo Hospital Nursing School vice principal visited the protest camp and asked the nurses to end their agitation, saying the health department was ready to revise their ad hoc contract. She told them the rules did not allow the health department to regularise them without involving the Public Service Commission.

The nurses rejected the offer and continued their protest.