The Education and Health Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) has passed the Medical Education Bill on the basis of majority on Wednesday after lawmakers of the ruling CPN and the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) failed to reach consensus.
The committee has endorsed the bill and decided to send it to the parliament despite four NC lawmakers putting different opinions. Fourteen out of the 18 lawmakers in the committee excluding chairman voted in support of the bill while four NC lawmakers begged to differ.
CPN lawmaker Yogesh Bhatatrai and NC lawmaker Gagan Thapa put their respective opinions in the meeting on Wednesday before the voting. Chairman Jayapuri Gharti had given the lawmakers a day to reach consensus but to no avail.
Bhattarai and Thapa said they could not even speak during the time.
Speaking after Chairman Gharti allotted time to him to speak after submitting the bill for decision, former health minister Thapa pointed that the agreement signed by the government with Dr Govinda KC is in the record of parliament, and asked why the agreement was signed if everything had to be changed in the bill.
"The bill says a university cannot give affiliation to more than five medical colleges on the one hand, and then states that those outside the Kathmandu Valley that have acquired letter of intent (LOI) can be given affiliation by the Tribhuvan University and the Kathmandu University on the other," Thapa pointed.
The agreement signed between the government and Dr KC before the TUTH doctor ended his 15th fast-unto death on July 26, 2018 mentioned that medical colleges to be opened outside Kathmandu will have to comply with the policies to be formulated by the Medical Education Commission. The medical colleges outside the Valley in this manner would have to wait until formulation of relevant policies by the commission as per the agreement but this bill has paved the way for immediate affiliation to those with LOI.
"The TU senate in the past used to say it has given affiliation on instruction of the court and the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). Now we have paved the way for affiliation through the bill itself. It will continue the anarchy in the medical education sector."
He added NC lawmakers have a different opinion of providing new affiliation only after formulating policy through the Medical Education Commission. He claimed that the bill has mentioned Medical Education University to undermine the Medical Education Commission.
He also expressed disagreement over the provision of making medical colleges not for profit after 10 years in the bill and demanded there should be a provision allowing conversion of medical colleges to service-oriented companies whenever the government so wishes, and service-oriented colleges be prohibited from distributing dividends
"The current provisions means those that have acquired LOI can earn profit for 10 years. We must keep whenever the government so wishes," he argued.
Speaking after Thapa, Bhattarai claimed that there is not much difference between the two parties and rued that they narrowed down to the very few differences but could not reach consensus. "We have not twisted the agreement reached with Dr KC. The past practice of distributing affiliation from the streets will be stopped after this bill is passed," he stated.
He claimed that the provision prohibiting opening of a new medical college in the Valley for the next 10 years is very important. .
"There is a provision that says a university can give affiliation to five medical colleges but it will not be applied for the medical colleges that have already acquired LOI," he added.
He defended the provision of allowing affiliation to the medical colleges outside the Valley that have already acquired LOI through TU and KU arguing that Nepali students have been forced to go to Bangladesh and Pakistan to study medicine even as medical colleges established with Nepali investment of billions do not get affiliation.
"It is treason to chase away the Nepali investors. Why should we send our students to Bangladesh and Pakistan to spend money?" he asked.
He pointed that the bill has provision requiring those who study medicine in government scholarship to serve in remote areas for two years, and scholarships will be provided to dalits, Muslims and backward classes according to the principle of social justice.
He called the issues of mentioning 'in spirit of the report of Kedar Bhakta Mathema commission' in the bill's preamble is not a big issue and pointed that the constitution mentions different movements instead of the 'People's War.'
He argued that the bill has important provisions like the medical colleges need experience of operating a 300-bed hospital for at least three years to take affiliation, and affiliation of those not having the requisite standards will be revoked.
He claimed that Dr KC has won in the parliament after endorsement of the bill. "We have prepared the bill in spirit of the demands of Dr Govinda KC. He has won from the parliament and not street today. The parliament has garlanded him today."
