The parliamentary committee on Women, Children, Senior Citizens and Social Welfare is set to submit the Health Profession Education (HPE) Bill at the House for endorsement on August 7 after completing its discussion on Wednesday. Endorsement of the bill is a major demand of Dr Govinda KC, who has been staging 11th round of hunger strike since July 24. 

On Wednesday, the committee held meeting with chief whips of all major parties and those heading the health and education departments within the parties. Also present in the meeting were Health Minister Giriraj Mani Pokhrel and Education Minister Gopal Man Shrestha. 

Committee Chairperson Ranju Jha said they would now compile the amendments and decide on the ones that should be included. It will then be sent to the House for endorsement by August 7, said Jha. 

During the meeting, lawmakers presented contrasting views for and against some of the clauses of the bill. Many lawmakers called for the removal of Clause 12 of the bill that bars establishing new medical schools inside Kathmandu Valley for a decade and requirement of a 300-bed facility to run medical colleges. 

Dhani Ram Poudel of the CPN (Maoist Centre) said the provision to provide affiliation by a university to medical colleges within its province should be scrapped, arguing that it would centralise medical colleges in Province 3. “The 10-year moratorium should also be removed to allow the institutions that have already acquired letter of intent to operate medical schools,” said Poudel. 

However, there were voices that vouched for endorsing the bill in its current form. 

Nepali Congress lawmaker Gagan Thapa said that the amendments that are filed for removal of Clause 12 do not represent the views of the parties. 

“The amendments are motivated by personal issues and hence it should be scrapped. We should endorse the bill as soon as possible,” said Thapa. 

As many as 54 lawmakers have filed 276 amendments on various clauses of the bill. Interestingly, 21 amendments have been filed seeking either removal of or change to the Clause 12.