At a time when the ruling party and the main opposition are at loggerheads over the National Medical Education Bill, a sitting minister in the KP Oli administration on Wednesday said that the government should abide by the agreement it had reached with Dr Govinda KC on July 26.

Dr KC is on his 16th hunger strike for the past 16 days, demanding that the bill be endorsed by Parliament in line with an agreement he had reached with the Oli administration. 

Health Minister Upendra Yadav in response to a query regarding KC’s hunger strike during an event at the ministry said, “Dr KC has staged hunger strikes multiple times for the same reason. Since the government had signed an agreement, it must implement it.”

The response from Yadav, a leader of the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal, comes at a time when the ruling Nepal Communist Party is trying to push the revised Medical Education Bill through Parliament by going against the agreement.

KC had ended his 15th hunger strike on July 26 after the government pledged to meet his demands including the endorsement of the National Medical Education Bill, as per his demands and recommendation made by the high-level commission led by former vice-chancellor of Tribhuvan University Kedar Bhakta Mathema.

But a parliamentary sub-committee changed some crucial provisions in the bill before presenting it to Parliament, much to the chagrin of KC and the main opposition, Nepali Congress. 

On Tuesday, lawmakers from the ruling Nepal Communist Party and the main opposition Nepali Congress had a scuffle-like situation when Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara allowed Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokhrel to present the bill for endorsement. 

After the pandemonium in Parliament, the meeting was called off for the day. 

The House has been scheduled to sit on Friday, and NCP lawmakers say they will make sure the bill gets endorsed. 

Speaking at an interaction in the Capital on Wednesday, NCP lawmaker Yogesh Bhattarai said that the bill would be endorsed on Friday at any cost. “Previously Minister Pokhrel was not allowed to address the House due to obstruction. Even if the opposition obstructs the House on Friday, the bill will get endorsed,” said Bhattarai.

“When the then CPN-UML lawmakers had obstructed the House while NC member Ram Chandra Paudel was the speaker, he had ordered to endorse the bill regarding local government without coming to the rostrum,” said Bhattarai, adding the medical education bill would be endorsed in a similar fashion on Friday.