Head of the Child Health Department and member of the Patan Hospital struggle committee Dr Srijana Shrestha told Republica that the protest was called off “for now” as the locals of Lalitpur on Saturday assured of support to their movement to displace Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) Dr Sangita Bhandari and the newly appointed Rector Dr Soumya Bhattacharya.[break]
“Let the people know that the OPD closure has be cancelled for now in respect of the locals who have stepped forward to assume ownership of this public property,” said Dr Shrestha.
Dr Shrestha informed that fresh protest programs would be unveiled on Sunday to press the VC and rector to resign without affecting services provided by the hospital.
The five-week long agitation had affected at least 2,000 of patients following the closure of OPD service Friday morning.
Meanwhile, VC Dr Bhandari has asked the agitating doctors and staffers to sit for dialogues to resolve the deadlock. “I want all of us to work together to improve the quality of our medical service,” said Dr Bhandari. However, the agitating doctors and staffers have turned down offer for talks and have demanded immediate resignation of VC, said Dr Kedar Baral of the struggle committee.
In an attempt to resolve the deadlock, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on Nov 5 had directed secretary at the prime minister´s office Krishna Hari Banskota to initiate dialogues between the two parties.
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