Valley
NC lawmakers' busy schedule defers discussion on medical education bill
A subcommittee under the Education and Health Committee of the House of Representatives couldn't hold discussions on discuss the National Medical Education Bill due to busy schedule of Nepali Congress lawmakers on Sunday.A subcommittee under the Education and Health Committee of the House of Representatives on Sunday failed to discuss the National Medical Education Bill due to busy schedule of Nepali Congress lawmakers.
Lawmaker Yogesh Bhattarai informed the discussion was deferred again for few more days as Nepali Congress lawmakers in the sub-committee are heading outside the valley for party works. The discussion was previously scheduled for November 1 but was deferred for today due to lack of quorum after majority of the sub-committee members did not show up.
The sub-committee meeting today decided to begin discussion on the bill from November 25. It also appointed lawmaker Bhairav Bahadur Singh as its coordinator. Lawmaker Bhattarai said the report will now be prepared so as to table it on the first meeting of the winter session of the parliament.
The parliamentary Education and Health Committee had formed the sub-committee to prepare a report on the bill following discussion with concerned stakeholders.
The bill was tabled in the Parliament to address the concerns of Dr Govinda KC, who has campaigning for reforms in the country’s medical education sector. It has proposed 10 year-moratorium on establishing medical colleges in the Valley, one of the key demands of Dr KC. The bill also provisions 75 percent scholarships in government medical colleges, setting up at least one state-run teaching hospital in each province, and making it mandatory for a medical college to operate a hospital for three years before getting an affiliation to run MBBS courses.