Several poor cancer patients blocked the Metro Bus track at Kalma Chowk region in Lahore city of Pakistan to protest against  suspension of free medicines supply at the state-run hospitals of Punjab, media reports said.

Taking notice of the protest Chief Minister Usman Buzdar ordered the authorities concerned to resolve the issue, reports Dawn News.

The protesting patients were seen holding medical prescriptions, registration forms and test reports in their hands.

They lodged a strong protest against the Punjab government’s decision to stop the life-saving drugs scheme under which over 5,500 registered patients were getting free medicines through state-run hospitals, the newspaper reported.

The protesters demanded for restoration of free medicines provision to the cancer patients.

“How can I afford such expensive medicines from my own pocket, especially when my husband was earning monthly Rs17,000 wages,” a woman patient told Dawn News.

Students of a Pakistani school also recently blocked a road to demonstrate against lack of teachers in the institution.

The students belonged to a government boys primary school in Khar tehsil of Bajaur tribal district.

Chanting slogans against the local education department, the students of primary school in Koosar area marched on the road and then blocked it by placing the school chairs on it, reports Dawn News.

The students, who were participating in the protest, alleged that there were three teachers in the school but they stopped coming after the winter vacations.

They pointed out that the area elders had taken up the issue of absence of teachers with the officials of the local education department, but to no avail, reports Dawn News.

The protesting students even claimed that they they had also sent complaints to the education department officials, requesting them to ensure presence of teachers in the school, but to no effect.

The students asked officials to take a note of the issue.

(IBNS)