The government formed a dialogue team led by Education Secretary Shanta Bahadur Shrestha to address Dr Govinda KC’s demands on Thursday—four days after the orthopaedic surgeon started his 11th hunger strike. 

Health Secretary Dr Kiran Regmi and Gopi Mainali, secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office are members of the talks team. 

A Cabinet meeting on Thursday decided to form the committee, which has been mandated to address Dr KC’s demands. 

But talks held between the government team and Dr KC’s representatives on Thursday evening failed to make any headway. Talks will continue on Friday, a member of the government talks team said. “We are committed to 

addressing his demands in such a way that he does not have to resort to fast-unto-death in future.”  Dr KC has long been demanding sweeping reforms in the country’s medical education sector. 

Dr KC’s primary demand is endorsement of the Health Profession Education Bill that has been in Parliament for about a year now. The bill envisions formation of an overarching regulatory framework for the medical education sector. 

Dr KC has also demanded mandatory enrolment of meritorious students in private medical colleges that have been found admitting even those students who are not on the merit list, charging exorbitant amount of money from them. He has also demanded that the Institute of Medicine be given the authority to enrol students, set fees and grant affiliation and de-affiliate medical colleges that fail to abide by the directives issued by the government and the court.

Dr KC’s demand of appointing assistant deans and campus chief as per the recommendation of the IoM dean has already been addressed.