By Syed Tauqeer Zaidi
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The Young Doctors Association (YDA) staged a protest on Monday, blocking the interprovincial Dera–Zhob Road in support of their demands. The road was reopened later following negotiations with the administration.
Fourth-year students of Gomal Medical College, led by Aslam Khattak, demonstrated outside the college, chanting slogans and accusing the administration of irregularities.
Addressing the protesters, YDA representative Ashraf Batini alleged that severe administrative lapses had persisted over the past four to five years. He claimed that students had been personally targeted and accused the administration of unlawfully granting supplementary exams to 15 second-year students, 14 third-year students, and 97 fourth-year students.
He appealed to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department, the Board of Governors, the Chief Minister, the provincial health minister, the MNAs and MPAs of Dera Ismail Khan, the Deputy Commissioner, and the Vice Chancellor of Khyber Medical University to take urgent notice and help resolve the emerging academic crisis. Following discussions between the administration and the demonstrators, the protest was called off and the road reopened.
Speaking to Metro Morning, Gomal Medical College Dean Dr Naseem Sabah said that, under Khyber Medical University (KMU) and Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) regulations, students with less than 75% attendance were not eligible to sit annual examinations. She noted that this rule was longstanding and strictly enforced each year.
Dr Sabah explained that second- and third-year examinations had already been cancelled earlier in the year for the same reason, with students accepting their mistake at the time. She added that some fourth-year students, including those with attendance as low as 50% or even zero, were refusing to acknowledge their negligence and had instead staged the protest.
She said the administration had invited the students for dialogue, but rather than engaging constructively, they chose to defy KMU and PMDC regulations, a decision she described as “completely unjustified.”
