"Please wait for us outside. We'll check you there," said the doctors addressing the crowd. Patients were taken aback by such an unexpected request, leading to chaos. Meanwhile, the hospital staff started setting-up tables, chairs and other necessary equipments at the hospital's lawn.
The patients were all confused. "I don't understand. What's happening?" Janki Acharya, a diabetes patient from Rolpa expressed her surprise. "I was waiting in the hospital's ward but they told me to wait outside," she added. Finally, the situation made sense to her as she read freshly pasted pamphlet on the wall that said: "We stand by Dr KC's cause."
Although some patients had already started to express their dissatisfaction, the message immediately pacified their frustration. "Well done! By supporting Dr KC's cause, the doctors are actually fighting for the welfare of poor people like me," said Nar Bahadur Rawat, a patient from Halwar. "We don't need expensive medical colleges. All we want is easy access to cetamol and other important drugs," he added.
The doctors, with a black band around their arms, started treating patients on the ground outside the hospitals main building. Dr Janardan Panthi, chairman of Nepal Medical Association (NMA), Dang, was instructing doctors to make the patients aware about Dr KC's protest while providing them with treatment. "Public needs to know about Dr KC's struggle. His protest is solely for their welfare," said Dr Panthi, who himself was busy informing the crowd about the issue.
All the doctors were following his instruction while providing OPD's service from the hospital's premises. After learning why Dr KC was staging the hunger strike, patients were thankful toward the doctors for the information. "I strongly believe that Dr KC's protest is for the improvement of the health sector in Nepal," said a patient Nirmal Pariyar. "If the government really cares about common people, it will have no choice but to address his demands," he added. Pariyar is hopeful about the government will do justice to the people by addressing Dr KC's demand at the earliest.
People in the remote parts of the district have to walk for hours just to obtain common medicines like cetamol. According to locals, they would rather prefer easy availability of medicines for common diseases like cough and cold over the expensive medicine colleges, which they cannot even afford. "The government is busy opening expensive medical colleges in cities, which cuts our chances for the easy access to common drugs," said Pariyar, adding that rural areas are highly neglected by the government.
"We should be ashamed to identify ourselves as Nepalese," said Dr Panthi. "Had Dr KC not been with us, doctors would have found it hard to show their faces in public," he added. According to him, the government is working in collusion with mafias in the sector to break Dr KC's fast-unto-death. "If that happens, the entire health sector of Nepal will come under the control of mafia," said he.
Earlier, the Dang chapter of NMA had planned to stage protests in support of Dr KC's cause. They had already informed the central committee for extending support to Dr KC's protest. However, they could not do so due to lack of coordination with the central committee. "Dr KC is very genuine about making the country's health sector better," said Dr Panthi. "We have just started our fight. We should not back down until the demands are met."
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