LAHORE: Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has criticised the Punjab government for not addressing the genuine demands of nurses.

He came down hard on government’s some initiatives saying it was using billions of rupees from the public fund on youth festivals but ignoring the education and health sectors.

While joining the protest of nurses on Tuesday, Imran Khan said the promotion of education and provision of health facilities to the masses was important than to make a world record by eating a hundred pieces of bread.

He said the PTI would continue to extend its support to the nurses and asked the Punjab government to resolve their issues on a priority basis.

The hours-long protest by scores of nurses on the second consecutive day brought no relief to them as the government largely remained unmoved.

However, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif constituted a committee headed by Chief Secretary Naveed Akram shortly after the PTI chairman and other senior leaders joined the protest camp of nurses.

Young Doctors Association Punjab leaders also reached the venue to show solidarity with the protesting nurses.

Punjab Health Director General Dr Zahid Pervaiz met office bearers of the Young Nurses Association at the protest camp and tried to convince them saying the government had accepted their several demands. However, the nurses refused to end their protest on his verbal assurance.

YNA President Rozeena Manzoor told the media that nurses would continue protest till the reinstatement of their sacked colleagues.

Earlier, scores of nurses from various government hospitals gathered at Club Chowk in the morning and then reached outside the Lahore Press Club. They later reached Egerton Road where they staged a sit-in.

They tried to march towards The Mall but the police stopped them by placing barriers on the road.

A tension prevailed as the police tried to stop some nurses by force when they tried to reach the Punjab Assembly building from the Cooper Road side. The police, however, managed to stop them on Egerton Road after a brief clash.

The nursing staff refused to leave the place till the acceptance of their demand. Their protest was continued till the filing of this report in the evening.

Traffic on Egerton Road and its adjoining roads remained blocked during the day-long protest of the nurses.

OUR BAHAWALPUR CORRESPONDENT ADDS: Nurses from Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) also took out a rally and staged a sit-in on Circular Road to stop the cavalcade of MNA Hamza Shahbaz to press for the acceptance of their demands.

In the morning, the nurses came out of their hostels to demand regularisation of their services and a service structure for permanent staffers.

Later in the afternoon, they again held a rally to condemn police baton-charge in Lahore on Monday.

On receipt of information that MNA Hamza is visiting the city, the nurses blocked Circular Road and staged a sit-in in a bid to stop his caravan. At this, police threatened them with dire consequences and managed to disperse them.