Campaigner for medical education reform Dr Govinda KC has taken exception to the medical education bill passed by the Education and Health Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) on the basis of majority on Wednesday.
He accused the lawmakers of ruling CPN of passing the bill to pay the price of Marsi rice their chairmen ate. "They say the lawmakers are sovereign but they are not. They dance to the tunes of their chairmen," he stated. "The CPN leaders ordered the lawmakers to pass the bill in favor of the medical mafia to pay the price of Marsi rice they ate."
The then chairman of CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli and CPN (Maoist Center) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who are both chairmen of the ruling CPN after party unification, on February 18, 2018 had lunch of Marsi rice at the residence of Durga Prasai in Bhaktapur after a meeting there.
Prasai is promoter of B&C Hospital in Birtamode, Jhapa that has already acquired LOI from the Kathmandu University to operate a medical college. The bill endorsed on Wednesday mentions that the medical colleges outside the Kathmandu Valley that have acquired LOI can be given affiliation by the Tribhuvan University and the Kathmandu University.
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 including B&C 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.
Dr KC pointed that his war now is not about formulation of Medical Education Act but against the CPN chairmen Oli and Dahal. "The people got them elected to formulate laws that serve public interest but they have become so arrogant that they don't value the people anymore," he pointed. "They have endorsed the bill in a way that serves the interest of medical mafia and not the people to launder their black money."
He revealed that he will start the 16th hunger strike in Ilam at 4:30 Wednesday afternoon demanding that the Medical Education Act be formulated as per the agreement signed with him. He will stage the hunger strike at the vacant building of the Urban Development Project after holding a press conference at four in the afternoon.
"I wanted to stage hunger strike at a dharmashala but they did not allow. I did not stage at a hospital myself as that would have affected the patients. That building was apparently vacant and I, therefore, chose it," he reasoned.
The Education and Health Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) earlier on Wednesday passed the Medical Education Bill on the basis of majority despite opposition of four lawmakers of Nepali Congress (NC).
