Kathmandu, October 19
Nepali Congress lawmaker Shekhar Koirala on Wednesday accused the present government of trying to finish off medical education in Nepal by acting as per whims and fancies of Dr Govinda KC, who has been staging a movement seeking reforms in the medical sector.
Koirala, who is a medical doctor himself, said this while speaking at a meeting of the Parliament’s Women, Children, Senior Citizens and Social Welfare Committee, where he launched a scathing attack on Dr KC.
Dr KC, lawmaker Koirala said, has been saying that no new medical college should be established in the Kathmandu Valley. He pointed further: Jumla (a remote district) Hospital is in operation with help from BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. What will you do by opening a medical college in Jumla?
Lawmaker Koirala accused Dr KC of going against Tribhuvan University Act.
The dean of Tribhuvan University’s Institute of Medicine should not only be a senior figure, s/he should also be competent, Koirala said, pointing that Dr KC’s demand for appointment of a senior figure as IOM dean does not make sense.
At the same time, Dr Koirala also accused the Mathema Commission, formed to suggest reforms in the medical sector, of serving a small group’s vested interests.
CIAA takes (medical) exams and Dr KC cries foul on the streets. This tendency is hitting Nepal’s medical colleges hard
CIAA takes (medical) exams and Dr KC cries foul on the streets, he said pointing at the intervention of the constitutional ‘anti-corruption’ agency in medical entrance examinations of Kathmandu University. This is hitting Nepal’s medical colleges hard, he said, pointing that the present situation has arisen because of lack of coordination between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health.
Dr Koirala stressed the need to make Nepal Medical Council accountable.
Ganesh Man Gurung, a lawmaker from the CPN-Maoist Centre, said the Mathema Commission report is not all-encompassing.
Failure to open medical colleges in Nepal itself causes capital flight of eight billion rupees annually from Nepal, he said, pointing at outflow of Nepali students in pursuit of medical education.
