The Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) has barred medical universities across the country from holding examinations in January.

Pakistani medical students have been demanding their promotion to the next academic semester immediately. They have demanded that they should be promoted in a similar way as students of primary and secondary schools were promoted.

Earlier, the government had postponed the exams till January 10. However, in a meeting chaired by NHS secretary Aamir Ashraf Khawaja, it was decided that all medical professional examinations would be conducted after February 1.

Ministry spokesperson Sajid Shah said that a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre was held which was attended by all stakeholders.

"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," Shah told DAWN.

However, the government said that students seeking professional degrees cannot be promoted without examinations. It was decided that examinations will be held and universities have been made bound to hold examinations in February, the spokesperson added.