Hundreds of doctors in Nepal have ended a five-day strike after the government agreed to meet their demands for medical education reforms.

Nepal Medical Association (NMA) withdrew its indefinite strike following a deal with the government.

“All the protest programmes have been withdrawn from Friday,” said a statement issued by the association. The strike was triggered by physician Govinda Kesi who went on a 15-day hunger strike to demand the removal of the government-appointed head of Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital.

He has been demanding end to political interference at the Institute of Medicine and was staging the strike to protest appointment of Shashi Sharma as the dean of the institute.

On Thursday, over 100 doctors resigned to show solidarity with Govinda Kesi ended his fast by drinking juice from the hand of a patient.

The government agreed to remove the dean and assured there would not be political interference in the medical education system.

The strike had left tens of thousands of patients with access only to emergency care. Several patients have been compelled to go to India for treatment.