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Leaving out experts’ suggestions will have consequences: Dr KC
As parliamentarians rush to endorse the Health Profession Education (HPE) Bill without incorporating major suggestions of experts, Dr Govinda KC has warned of a fresh hunger strike from October 6.As parliamentarians rush to endorse the Health Profession Education (HPE) Bill without incorporating major suggestions of experts, Dr Govinda KC has warned of a fresh hunger strike from October 6.
Issuing a statement on Saturday, Dr KC who has been an instrumental force behind the drafting of the bill, has warned of making public the names of lawmakers protecting “medical mafia” and whose abrupt decision might put the country’s medical education sector into quandary.
Endorsement of the HPE Bill without incorporating suggestions of the Mathema Committee report will have serious repercussions, Dr KC said in the statement, warning that he would stage another round of hunger strike from October 6 if the government tried to pass the bill forcibly.
Taking strong exception to the tabling of the revised HPE Bill in Parliament by ignoring important points of the Mathema report, Dr KC said the bill was moved ahead to fulfil the vested interests of medical college operators. Overlooking suggestions of the Mathema report means that people’s representatives are playing with the health of Nepali people, he said.
If passed as it is, the HPE Bill will benefit some of the private medical colleges, including Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS), B&C Hospital, Nepal Police Medical College, People’s Dental College and Aswhini Medical College, which have been using its political clout to gain affiliation for years.
The MMIHS is promoted by UML lawmakers, while the B&C Hospital has the backing of the CPN (Maoist Centre). These colleges have already obtained the letters
of intent. Besides the issue of medical education, Dr KC said that Gopal Bahadur Khadka and Chudamani Sharma who were found involved in embezzlement of millions of rupees from the state coffers should not be freed under any circumstances.
Khadka was sacked from the top post of the state-owned oil monopoly for his alleged involvement in financial irregularities while purchasing land plots to expand fuel storage facilities across the country. Sharma was arrested on charge of misappropriating revenue and settling taxes in a dubious way.