State Minister for Health and Population Surendra Kumar Yadav on Monday summoned the doctors who have been protesting against the provisions of the newly enforced Criminal Code.

State Minister Yadav through his personal assistant had summoned the doctors at around 11 am today, Nepal Medical Association (NMA) Chairman Muktiram Shrestha informed.

“We don’t have any knowledge about the reason behind the State Minister’s willingness to meet us,” Shrestha said, adding “We don’t know whether he called us for formal talks.”

Hundreds of thousands of patients have been affected since Sunday after the NMA decided to shut down all the medical services except emergency to protest against the provisions of the Criminal Code which came into effect on August 17.