The main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) has urged Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli to fulfill the demands of Dr Govinda KC who has been staging his 16th fast-unto death in Ilam.
The party, that opened the medical sector to the private sector after adopting economic liberalization following restoration of democracy in 1990, has now backed the campaign of Dr KC to undo the harms that proliferation of private medical colleges has done to the country.
The party has issued an 11-point press statement clarifying the party's position about medical education and urged PM Oli to honor the agreement he signed with Dr KC while ending the last hunger strike.
Dr KC, who is into the ninth day of the hunger strike, was shifted to Ilam Hospital on Monday after starting his fast at the vacant building of the Urban Development Project on January 9.
Dr KC had suffered from chest pain, cough and other problems from the second day itself, and was shifted to the hospital after his heartbeats became irregular from Sunday.
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.
