Kathmandu, July 31
One of the major demands of Dr Govinda KC, who has been fasting unto death for last eight days, is that the government immediately endorse the Medical Education Bill to regulate the sector. However, lawmakers and stakeholders say the bill is unlikely to get the House nod anytime soon.
The bill is currently stuck in the Women, Children, Senior Citizens and Social Welfare Committee.
Whenever Dr KC launches the hunger strike, the Committee revives discussions on the bill as he demands its immediate endorsement, but it never reaches any any conclusion.
The government signs an agreement with the fasting doctor and Dr KC ends his strike. The discussions end immediately.
Why?
Because Dr KC wants the bill to impose a bar on establishment of new medical colleges in Kathmandu Valley for at least 10 years. But, some lawmakers, who are members of the Social Welfare Committee, are themselves operators of a proposed medical college.
CPN-UML lawmakers Rajendra Pandey and Banshidhar Mishra are founders of the proposed Manmohan Medical College to be established in the name of late party leader and former PM Manmohan Adhikari. The Committee is chaired by another UML lawmaker, Ranju Jha.
As many as 27 amendments have been filed to the bill and most of them are in favour of private medical college operators. Both Pandey and Mishra have also proposed amendments.
Earlier while signing an agreement with Dr KC, the government had agreed to withdraw the bill related to the Manmohan Medical College and keep it under the ambit of National Academy of Medical Sciences. Accordingly, the then Health Minister Gagan Thapa withdrew the bill, but the College is still not under NAMS.
A source says the issue does not get resolved unless NAMS acquire the Manmohan Collegeg as agreed with Dr KC earlier.
