KATHMANDU, Dec 16: All Nepal National Independent Student Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), affiliated to Netra Bikram Chand’s Maoist party, has padlocked the account sections of medical colleges, Vice Chancellor’s (VC) offices of the Tribhuvan University and the Kathmandu University, and entire office of the Nepal Medical Council (NMC), protesting against the fees charged by private medical colleges.
There are altogether 27 medical colleges and institutes across the country, according to the student union. “We padlocked account section of all medical colleges, VC offices of KU and TU, dean offices of medical institutes, and whole office of the NMC,” said Purna Bahadur Singh, president of the ANNISU-R. “We had submitted our seven point demands to the concerned authorities two weeks ago. However, they did not listen to us,” he added while elaborating on the reason behind the padlocking.
ANISU-R padlocks medical colleges, VC offices
The government has fixed a sealing of Rs 3.5 million fees in Kathmandu Valley and Rs 3.8 million outside Valley for the MBBS and BDS students. However, ANNISU-R claims that some colleges are charging from Rs 4 million to Rs 7.2 million.
“TU affiliated medical colleges are charging between 4 to 6.2 million while KU affiliated colleges are charging between Rs 4 to 7.2 million for bachelor level medical courses,” said Singh.
Their seven-point-demand includes bringing uniformity in the fees in all medical colleges, managing medical education, increasing the ceiling of student seats in medical colleges.
“We started padlocking these institutions from yesterday and completed today,” Singh informed adding that police has unlocked account offices of two medical colleges in Chitwan and Nepalgung. He said that the fresh rounds of protests will be launched from Friday.
