Health
Dr KC demands appointment of vice chair in medical commission be halted
Irregularities would flourish and regulations would turn into a mess if incompetent people or stalwarts of political parties are appointed as vice chairman, says Dr KCArjun Poudel
Dr Govinda KC, a senior orthopedic surgeon of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, has demanded the selection process of vice Chairman of Medical Education Commission be halted immediately.
Organising a press meet at the TU Teaching Hospital on Thursday, KC raised serious objection over the selection process of the commission’s vice chairman. “Appointment of commission’s vice chairman is more sensitive issue than giving job to someone or fulfilling somebody’s vested interest,” reads the statement, issued by Dr KC.
He said that irregularities would flourish and regulations of medical education would turn into a mess if incompetent people or stalwarts of political parties are appointed as vice chairman.
“We cannot remain silent over the selection process,” Dr KC warned. He also demanded the withdrawal of the Media Council Bill and the Information Technology Bill and the scrapping of the amendment bill of the National Human Rights Commission.
Six people—including Dr Nilmani Upadhyay, who was implicated by Medical Education Probe Committee—have applied for the appointment of the vice chairman of the commission. Others who have applied for the post are Sri Krishna Giri, Dr Pramod Sah, Dr Paras Pokhrel, Dr Ramesh Singha and Dr Nilambar Jha.
A committee formed to recommend the vice chairman of the commission had published a notice for the application of the post, giving a 15-day notice, which expired on Monday.
Dr KC has already staged a hunger strike 16 times in the past for the improvement in medical education sector. He had started his latest hunger strike following a parliamentary committee’s decisions to make some crucial amendments to the National Medical Education Bill, saying that it was against an agreement he had reached with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on July 26 last year.
But the ruling Nepal Communist Party bulldozed the amended bill, which was also opposed by the main opposition Nepali Congress, through the House.
He had also demanded Oli’s resignation on “moral grounds” for breaching the deal. However, his latest hunger strike on January this year ended without any agreement without the government.