The House of Representatives (HoR) has passed the Medical Education Bill despite protest by lawmakers of the main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) on Friday.
Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel presented the bill from the rostrum despite the NC lawmakers chanting slogans in the well of the House. Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara declared passing of the bill through voice vote even as no lawmakers registered their name for discussion on the bill.
The ruling CPN had tried to pass the bill on Tuesday itself but the House was adjourned due to obstruction by NC lawmakers.
The government seemed determined to pass the much-disputed bill from the House before Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli returns from Davos at any cost. A CPN leader had confided with Setopati that Oli had summoned the party's lawmakers before leaving for Davos and instructed them to get it passed before he returns home.
"Call it autocracy or arrogance of two-third majority, the bill will be passed. It is the government's strategy," Government Spokesperson and Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gokul Baskota said addressing the weekly press conference at the Singh Durbar on Thursday.
The House was adjourned until Friday after lawmakers of the main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) stopped Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel Minister Pokharel from going to the rostrum to present the bill on Tuesday accusing the government of trying to dissolve hospitals opened in the name of former prime ministers (PM) Girija Prasad Koirala and Sushil Koirala.
Dr Govinda KC is into the 17th day of his 16th fast-unto death demanding that the agreement the government signed with him before ending his 15th 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.
