The outpatient department at the Gandaki Medical College and Teaching Hospital in Pokhara is shut for the last 22 days because of the strike enforced by the doctors who are demanding raise and permanent positions for tenure doctors. The protest has affected the people visiting the hospital, according to the hospital CEO, Santosh Khanal. He said though the hospital administration was ready to sit for talks, the doctors were reluctant to come to the negotiating table. 

Dr Gopi Prasad Hirachan, one of the protesting doctors, however, claimed that it was the hospital administration unwilling to address their demands. (PR)