The government on Thursday withdrew the Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) Bill from Parliament.

The MMIHS Bill, registered by the Sushil Koirala-led government and tabled in Parliament by the erstwhile KP Sharma Oli-led government, sought to give the MMIHS the status of an autonomous institute to run MBBS classes.

The government move of withdrawing the Bill is in line with the demand of Dr Govinda KC, who is staging his ninth hunger strike calling for an end to irregularities in the medical education sector. After failing to get affiliation from Tribhuvan University to run MBBS classes, the CPN-UML lawmakers, who are among the promoters of the MMIHS, had pressed the Koirala government to give the institute an autonomous status by endorsing a separate Act to guide it.

MMIHS is run by the Nepal Health Care Co-operative Limited (NEHCO-Nepal) where majority shareholders—more than 2,000—are members of the UML. NEHCO-Nepal is chaired by UML lawmaker Rajendra Pandey.

Had the Bill been endorsed, the MMIHS would have got the status similar to Patan Institute of Health Sciences, which has the authority to formulate its own syllabus.

Government Spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communication Surendra Karki informed the media about the government’s decision to withdraw the MMIHS Bill. The Cabinet on Thursday also decided to change the name of National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) into Manmohan Memorial National Academy of Medical Sciences (MMNAMS), said Minister Karki.

With the decision to rename NAMS, NEHCO-Nepal now won’t be able to establish another health institution in the name of former prime minister and UML leader Manmohan Adhikari.

The NAMS senate a week ago had decided to change its name to MMNAMS. The senate decision was awaiting Cabinet approval. Earlier the government had reached an agreement with Dr KC that the government would buy the property of MMIHS.

National Med Edu Bill sent to House panel

A Parliament meeting on Thursday decided to send the National Medical Education Bill 2016 to Parliamentary Committee on Women, Children, Elderly Citizen and Social Welfare. The endorsement of the Bill is one of the key demands of Dr Govinda KC who is on his ninth hunger strike. The committee will discuss the amendments registered on the Bill before finalising it. Lawmakers from various parties have registered 27 proposals seeking amendment to the Bill which will be tabled in Parliament for endorsement once it is finalised by the House committee.