The government has sent a letter to Dr Govinda KC, who has been staging hunger strike for the past 19 days, proposing him to end his hunger strike. However, the supporters of Dr KC said that they would respond only after reading the draft of the Health Profession Education (HPE) Bill.
The proposal was sent after Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba summoned Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Gopal Man Shrestha and Health Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharal and the concerned stakeholders, and directed to create environment for Dr KC to end his fast by addressing his demands through a fast-track.
In its letter, the government side has proposed to address Dr KC’s demands including drafting the HPE Bill in line with the spirit of Mathema Commission. A late meeting was held late on Thursday (9pm to 1 am Friday) to resolve the issue, Health Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel said.
At the meeting, DPM and Education Minister Shrestha, Health Minister Pokharel, former Health Minister Gagan Thapa, Jeewan Pariyar, Dhaniram Poudel, Kedar Bhakta Mathema, Dr Bhagawan Koirala, Dr Arjun Karki, Madan Upadhyay, UMesh Kanta Pokharel and the members of the talks team were present.
The meeting had decided to find a win-win solution to address Dr KC’s demand and propose him to break his fast.
Following the meeting, PM Deuba summoned the ministers and other stakeholders including Ranju Jha, chairperson of parliamentary committee on Women and Children,
It has been learnt that the meeting reached an agreement to pass the Health Profession Education (HPE) Bill to address the demands of Dr Govinda KC.
According to the agreement reached at Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s official residence in Baluwater on Friday, a new medical collage should meet the criteria provisioned in the HPE Bill in order to get affiliation.
Clause-13 of the Bill states that medical colleges should fulfil the criteria set by the Health Ministry and the Commission formed as provisioned in the HPE Bill, and that the hospital should be fully operational in order to get a new affiliation.
The HPE Bill finalised by the parliamentary taskforce on Thursday has the provision to grant affiliation to medical colleges that have built infrastructure to run medical education programmes. According to earlier agreement, medical colleges would be allowed to run college only after running the hospital for at least two years. However, Dr KC had been demanding that medical colleges should be operated for at least three years in order to get affiliation.
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