Kathmandu, October 9
The government has reached an agreement with Dilli Harijan, who was staging a hunger strike for the second time, demanding an increase in the stipend for medical interns.
The three-point agreement provides for his demands to be presented at a meeting of the Medical Education Commission. Harijan had been on a hunger strike for five days.
The agreement was reached between Harijan’s representatives and a government negotiation team led by Jayaram Adhikari, joint secretary at the Ministry of Education and Sports.
Under the agreement, a proposal to provide medical interns pursuing one-year internships in MBBS, BDS and other programmes with a stipend equivalent to 50 per cent of the starting salary at the eighth level of the health service will be presented at a meeting of the Medical Education Commission.
Harijan had also staged a hunger strike. On August 7, the government reached an agreement with him, pledging to address his demands.
Harijan resumed his hunger strike, accusing the government of failing to implement the agreement. He began the strike on the premises of the Medical Education Commission in Bhaktapur. As his health deteriorated, he was taken to Bir Hospital.
