Dr Govinda KC, who started the hunger strike at the vacant building of the Urban Development Project Wednesday afternoon, has been shifted to the hospital at nine Monday morning after complaints of irregular heartbeats.
He had refused to be shifted to the hospital claiming he is well, and urged the government to fulfill his demands instead. But he was taken to the hospital on an ambulance.
Dr KC had suffered from chest pain, cough and other problems from the second day itself, and his heartbeats became irregular from Sunday. His left lung has also not expanded properly and he may have acquired chest expansion, according to Dr Ramkrishna Acharya who is looking after him.
His urine discharge has fallen and the body is short of water and electrolytes.
Dr KC has demanded that the agreement the government signed with him before ending his 15th fast-unto death on July 26, 2018 be implemented to the letter.
The Medical Education Bill, passed by the
Education and Health Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) on the basis of majority despite opposition of four NC lawmakers, mainly violated three agreements signed with Dr KC.
The provision prohibiting a university from giving affiliation to more than five medical colleges has been weakened in the bill adding 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.
B&C Hospital in Birtamode, Jhapa has acquired LOI from the Kathmandu University, that has already provided affiliation to at least five medical colleges, to operate a medical college.
The bill endorsed on Wednesday will pave the way for immediate affiliation to B&C. The agreement mentioned medical colleges to be opened outside Kathmandu Valley will have to comply with the policies to be formulated by the Medical Education Commission meaning B&C would have to wait for formation of the commission, and formulation of policies by the commission to get affiliation.
The second is formation of the all-powerful commission for regulation of medical education and to formulate policies about the sector. Dr KC suspects that the bill passed on Wednesday mentioned Medical Education University to undermine the commission.
The third is the issue of Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) that the government had agreed to phase out within five years as the Health Ministry has already announced it will not recruit human resources with qualification of just certificate level. But the bill passed Wednesday states that the CTEVT will continue until the government so wishes.
