Kathmandu, November 4
The government has formed a four-member committee to hold talks with medical education reform campaigner Prof Dr Govinda KC.
The committee, coordinated by Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Education Jayaram Adhikari, includes a joint secretary from the Ministry of Health and Food Safety, the member-secretary of the Medical Education Commission and an undersecretary from the Ministry of Education.
The government formed the committee after Dr KC’s health condition deteriorated while he was staging his 25th hunger strike in Ilam. As his condition became more critical, he was airlifted to Kathmandu on Monday. He is currently admitted to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital for further treatment.
Dr KC has put forward six demands related to medical education and healthcare services this time.
Among his demands is the cancellation of permission granted to the Shahid Dasharath Chand University of Health Sciences in Geta, Kailali, to run MBBS and nursing programmes despite inadequate infrastructure and human resources.
He has also called for an impartial investigation into alleged conflicts of interest in the appointment of officials at the Medical Education Commission and universities.
Similarly, he has demanded that Geta Hospital be brought into full operation and that previous agreements reached between him and the government be implemented.
