LAHORE, Sept 13: Scores of young doctors staged a sit-in on Thursday on Jail Road and Lahore Canal in protest against delay in service structure.

Minor scuffles between the motorists and the protesting doctors took place on Lahore Canal when the agitators refused to restore vehicular movement during protest.

The young doctors from Lahore General, Children’s and Jinnah hospitals assembled and blocked one side of Lahore Canal near Allama Iqbal Medical College.

The doctors belonging to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Punjab Institute of Cardiology and the Services Hospital staged a sit-in on Jail Road.

The YDA representatives said bureaucracy in health department was responsible for delay in the provision of service structure to all cadres of doctors.

They alleged that the health secretary had been misleading the chief minister about ‘genuine’ and longstanding demand for service structure.

YDA leader Dr Javed Malik said some government representatives in the 18-member committee constituted by the chief minister for reviewing service structure agreed on most of the recommendations forwarded by his association. However, he said, the health department officials were using delaying tactics owing to ‘unknown reasons’. The protesters dispersed after 2pm.