After several rounds of dialogue with the government team turned futile, agitating surgeon Dr Govinda KC has said there will be no more talks unless the government withdraws the controversial National Medical Education Bill from Parliament.

The crusader has also demanded more power for the task force to discuss the contents of the bill. The team led by Education Secretary Khag Raj Baral has no jurisdiction to discuss the bill, which is the major bone of contention. In a statement on Wednesday, Dr KC said the government was trying to fool the people by forming a toothless talks team.

Representatives of Dr KC including Senior Advocate Surendra Bhandari and Dr Abhishek Raj Singh held talks with the Baral-led panel on Monday and Tuesday without any concrete outcome. The focus of the government panel was on bringing the agitating surgeon to Kathmandu for better treatment while it ignored the major demands that prompted the hunger strike.

“The government doesn’t seem to be serious about the demands. Another round of talks will be held only after the bill is withdrawn,” Dr KC said.

The orthopaedic surgeon has been on a hunger strike for the last 19 days pressing the government to come up with a law honouring the recommendations of the task force led by Kedar Bhakta Mathema, a former vice-chancellor of Tribhuvan University. The government, however, has presented a bill on medical education omitting the major recommendations.

Since the demands are political in nature, said Bhandari, having dialogue with the government panel would be fruitless. He charged that the government side, including Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel, was in no mood for compromise. “Minister Pokharel was too rude to say that the government cannot withdraw the bill, nor put it on hold,” he said.

Statement

I launched an indefinite hunger strike at the Karnali Academy of Health Sciences (KAHS) for opening a medical school in Jumla district. The government has permitted establishment of medical colleges in city areas but has not cared for running a medical college in Jumla. The government has allowed mafia to run medical colleges in big cities.