The National Medical Education Bill, which was tabled in the federal parliament to address the concerns of campaigner Dr Govinda KC, will not be endorsed in the ongoing session despite repeated commitments from the ruling parties.

KC ended his 15th hunger strike on July 26, after the government committed to endorsing the Bill incorporating the recommendations of a task force led by Kedar Bhakta Mathema, a former vice-chancellor of Tribhuvan University.

The government introduced, reluctantly, the bill at the House of Representatives last month but then failed to move it further for a month.

The Education and Health Committee of the House is studying the bill. It has formed a subcommittee for “thorough deliberation” on the bill before tabling it in the full House for endorsement.

“The subcommittee has yet to discuss the bill so it won’t be endorsed from the current session,” committee Chairperson Jayapuri Gharti told the Post. The federal parliament is likely to be prorogued on Friday. It was not immediately clear when the winter session commences.

A large number of lawmakers from the ruling parties are against the 10 year-moratorium on establishing medical colleges in the Valley, one of the major demands of Dr KC. The bill also provisions 75 percent scholarships in government medical colleges, setting up at least one state-run teaching hospital in each province, and making it mandatory for a medical college to operate a hospital for three years before getting an affiliation to run MBBS courses.

The Medical Education Ordinance introduced earlier lost effect after Parliament failed to endorse it.