Kathmandu, August 15
The Ministry of Health has ordered fake doctors to leave their work stations and report to it within 24 hours. It has also decided to scrap contract agreements reached with ‘doctors’ before they turned out to be quacks.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ had directed Dr Senendra Raj Upreti, secretary at the health ministry, to bar quacks from attending to patients.
Right after this, government secretariat had a meeting at the ministry.
Mahendra Shrestha, secretary at the ministry, told Onlinekhabar about the meeting: In keeping with Prime Minister’s directive, we have decided that ‘doctors’ concerned should produce themselves before the health ministry within 24 hours. And we have also decided to scrap contract agreements that government had reached with such doctors.
The government has directed three permanent doctors to produce themselves before the ministry within the next 24 hours. On top of it, the government has told five government doctors on contract to report to the ministry within the deadline.
In case of fake doctors working at private hospitals, the government has written to the Nepal Medical Council to scrap their licences, Spokesperson Shrestha informed.
Dilip Sharma, registrar at the NMC, said they are preparing for a full council meeting to take a call on the issue.
With court cases filed against some ‘doctors’, the responsible authority, the NMC, should have suspended the ‘doctors’ right away. But then Health Minister Ram Janam Chaudhary did not let the council convene its full meeting, thereby delaying action against the quacks.
Nepal Police’s Operation Quack had found 37 fake doctors. They had returned to work, despite ongoing court cases, with NMC unable to scrap their licences.
