The Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) stopped medical universities across the country from holding examinations in the current month.

Ministry spokesperson Sajid Shah said that during a meeting, chaired by NHS secretary Aamir Ashraf Khawaja, it was decided that all medical professional examinations would be conducted after Feb 1.

“A meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre was held and there was representation from all stakeholders in it. Over the last one week we received thousands of calls as some of the universities announced dates of examinations in January despite the fact that they were closed till the end of the current month,” he said.

“A number of medical students were demanding that they should be promoted in a similar way as students of primary and secondary schools were promoted, but at the meeting there was consensus that students seeking professional degrees cannot be promoted without examinations. It was decided in the meeting that examinations will be held and universities have been made bound to hold examinations in February,” he said.