In what appears to be a clear act of breach of trust, the Sushil Koirala government had given instructions to table a bill to elevate Manmohan Institute of Health Sciences to the status of an autonomous academy, contrary to an agreement and assurance Koirala had given to Dr Govinda KC, a former health minister claimed.
In what appears to be a clear act of breach of trust, the Sushil Koirala government had given instructions to table a bill to elevate Manmohan Institute of Health Sciences to the status of an autonomous academy, contrary to an agreement and assurance Koirala had given to Dr Govinda KC, a former health minister claimed.
The Koirala-led government had assured Dr KC that no new medical colleges would be established in the Kathmandu Valley and that the government would comply with the report prepared by a team of experts.
The bill proposing formation of Manmohan Adhikari Academy of Health Sciences was tabled by the KP Oli government recently. But it was registered by Khagaraj Adhikari, a CPN-UML leader who was health minister in the Koirala-led government.
Adhikari told the Post that he was pressured by the then prime minister Koirala and the Finance Ministry to prepare and register the bill.
Adhikari said he is also of the view that there should not be any more medical colleges in the Valley and that he had to draft and register the bill under pressure.
“The draft that we had registered stated that its office would be based in Dhading,” said Adhikari.
The Koirala government, in the wake of a series of fast-unto-death by Dr KC, had formed a commission led by Kedar Bhakta Mathema to draft the Health Profession Education Policy, which has recommended that no new medical colleges should be established in the Kathmandu Valley for next 10 years.
Dr KC, who has been calling for reforms in the medical education sector, said it is a betrayal on the part of the then government.
“They have lost their moral ground and made us realise once again that we cannot trust them,” said Dr KC.
In the 11-point written agreement that the then government had signed with Dr KC in September last year, it had agreed not to renew Letter of Intent (LoI) of medical, nursing and dental colleges inside the Kathmandu Valley. When the LoI, a prerequisite for opening medical colleges, is not renewed, it shuts all doors for any colleges to apply for affiliation, which is a must for any medical college to run MBBS classes.
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