Sir: Being a part of the Medical profession, I felt disappointed to know that a few final year medical students of the Bolan Medical College in Quetta had decided to go on a hunger strike till death. The students believe that the final year result published on August 8 are biased and are an insult to the merit system that our education system is based on. About 18 students were declared to have failed twice in the annual and supplementary examinations, without the proper assessment of their skills based on their merit. I would like to remind people that these students are among those who topped their particular districts, and received their medical seats in the Bolan Medical College through competitive examinations. Before this, they had passed the four years of MBBS, and had received over 60% marks overall. What surprised me the most was that the students passed all the subjects in their final year theory section, and were failed on the basis of their Viva. According to the students, the Viva lasted only a few minutes, and they asked three to four questions each, even though they had prepared for their entire syllabus and had been expecting a more comprehensive test of their skills. How can just a few questions determine the worth of student, especially in such a vast field like medicine? I am afraid that is this is how our education is handled then the future looks quite bleak. On top of the problems highlighted by the students, they also pointed out that this behaviour would lead to a loss of years of their professional and student life, and was entirely the fault of the inept attitudes of the examiners. Sadly, most of these students come from extremely poor socioeconomic conditions and for many of them the reality is that they are the sole bread winners in their families, who are dependent on them for everything in life. One of the students that were part of the hunger strike cried while speaking about his anguish over his family’s great expectations from him. He talked about how his family was looking forward to his future career as a doctor, so that he could help them financially. Yet, due to the actions of the examiners, the student was instead forced to contemplate suicide. Through your esteemed newspaper, I appeal to the concerned authorities to negotiate with the students as soon as possible, and come to an adequate solution to this grave problem. Help these future doctors achieve their dreams. TEHZEEB YOUSUF Kech Published in Daily Times, August 16th 2018.