Hundreds of patients coming to the OPD of the hospital have been left in the lurch as the students have closed down all its services as the hospital continued to remain indifferent to their demands. [break]
Ishwari Prasad Dhakal, a resident of Indrapur in Morang district, arrived to the hospital for the treatment of skin infection. However, after finding that the OPD has been padlocked by the students, he had to return home without treatment.
Many other patients like Dhakal who had come to the hospital on Monday had to return without any medical treatment.
The students have been demanding Rs 50,000 monthly compensation to each student until the hospital makes necessary arrangement with NMC to allow them to attend the licensing examination.
Likewise, they have also asked the NMC to take stern action against the hospital management for trying to ruin their future by not submitting their examination form on time.
The agitating students had padlocked the administration block of the hospital on last Wednesday, and had issued a week long ultimatum to the hospital management to address their demand.
“But the hospital did not heed our demand. So, we padlocked the OPD,” said a student at the hospital. He accused that the hospital of exploiting the intern doctors and forcing them to work under duress.
Although the students had filled up the examination forms three weeks ago before the examinations, the hospital administration did not submit their forms on time. As a result, the students who had gone to Kathmandu just to appear in the examination could not do so.
After passing the MBBS examinations, a graduate should complete at least six months of internship, which is a precondition to licensing examination of NMC. And the MBBS graduate has to pass the test conducted by NMC to acquire the license to practice medicine in the country.
If the NMC does not take their examination, the students now have to wait for the next six month for another examination.
Meanwhile, issuing another press statement, the hospital has threatened to take action against the agitating students if they did not call off the strike forthright.
Agitating interns, resident doctors boycott non-emergency servi...