Nepal Medical Association serves 72-hour ultimatum to government to hold talks with Dr KC
Nepal Medical Association has served a 72-hour ultimatum to the government to form a talks committee to save the life of Dr Govinda KC, who has been staging an indefinite hunger strike for the past 16 days.
Nepal Medical Association has served a 72-hour ultimatum to the government to form a talks committee to save the life of Dr Govinda KC, who has been staging an indefinite hunger strike for the past 16 days.
The NMA warned that they would be forced to shutdown hospitals across the country if the government did not take any initiative to save the life of Dr KC till Sunday.
The decision was made according to the mandate provided by a broader assembly organised at the office of Nepal Medica Association to save the life of Dr KC on Thursday.
The NMA said that doctors of all the hospitals inside Kathmandu Valley will gather at the premises of Maharajgunj-based Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) on Sunday afternoon and will announce further protest programmes if the government did not take any initiative to save the life of Dr KC within next 72 hours.
“We can stage a relay hunger strike and also close all the hospitals across country to express solidarity with Dr KC,” NMA Chairman Dr Mukti Ram Shrestha said.
The NMA has also expressed solidarity with the resident doctors of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences among other health facilities who have announced protest to exert pressure on the government to address the demands of Dr KC at the earliest.
Senior orthopedic surgeon at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Dr Govinda KC, began his 16th hunger strike in Ilam district on January 9 after the government expressed its reluctance to endorse the Medical Education Bill in line with the agreement signed with him earlier. Later, he was brought to Kathmandu following his deteriorating health.
Earlier this afternoon, the anti-graft crusader penned an open letter to the parliamentarians urging them to correct the provisions of the Medical Education Bill.
In the open letter, Dr KC had pointed out the mistakes on the draft of the National Medical Education Bill that was endorsed by the parliamentary Health and Education Committee on majority basis by making amendments that differed with the provisions of the agreement reached with Dr KC when he ended his 15th hunger strike on July 26, 2018, after 27 days.
On the top of that, resident doctors at various government hospitals across the country on Thursday had warned of halting all medical services except emergency from Friday if the government failed to hold talks with Dr KC.
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