Govt team meets agitating Dr KC

Kathmandu, October 6

A three-member team led by Gopinath Mainali, secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, met Dr Govinda KC, senior orthopaedic surgeon, at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital today.

Dr KC has been sitting on a fast-unto-death protest demanding reform in the medical sector. He had launched hunger strike in Chandannath Municipality-6, of Jumla district on September 14, before coming to Kathmandu and has been continuing the peaceful protest at Maharajgunj-based TU Teaching Hospital.

“Secretary Mainali told Dr KC that the government is responsible to meet the demands made by him. The team also urged Dr KC to end the fast-unto-death strike in view of the coronavirus pandemic. Dr KC said that if there is an official committee formed to hold talks with him then he will sit for talks,” said Deepak Sharma, spokesperson at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, one of the team members who had visited Dr KC today.

Earlier, medical students and residential doctors had protested on the hospital premises demanding that the government immediately form a committee to hold talks with Dr KC about his demands. They had urged the government to save Dr KC’s life.

Residential Doctors’ Association had warned that if the government failed to hold talks with Dr KC then they would come up with stern protest programmes across the country.

It has already been 23 days that Dr KC has sat for a hunger strike demanding that the government launch MBBS programme at Karnali Academy of Health Sciences, expand coverage of polymerase chain reaction tests for COVID-19, investigate into corruption in health sector and end the ongoing prohibitory orders imposed in different districts by making the use of face mask and physical distancing mandatory in public life.

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A version of this article appears in e-paper on October 7, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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