Dr KC starts fresh hunger strike

Published On: November 13, 2016 09:55 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

File photo. (Republica)

KATHMANDU, Nov 13: Senior orthopedic surgeon at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Dr Govinda KC on Sunday started his tenth hunger strike putting forth six-point demands including appointment of dean at Institute of Medicine (IoM) on the basis of seniority.

Dr KC yesterday had announced to stage the 10th fast-unto-death from this afternoon if the government fails to appoint dean at IoM on the basis of seniority within 24 hours.

Earlier today, TU Executive Council appointed Dr KP Singh as the dean at the Institute of Medicine (IoM) breaching the seniority criteria. The post was vacant since nine months.

The newly-appointed dean will retire after four months. Dr Jagadish Agrawal was to be appointed as the dean if the seniority of the professors was taken into consideration.

“TU Executive Council appointed Dr Singh to the post concluding that the padlock at the IoM won’t end if Agrawal is appointed to the post,” Rector Sudha Tripathi told Republica Online, “Dr Singh has already received the appointment letter.”

Doctors close to the Nepali Congress (NC) have been padlocking IoM demanding not to appoint the dean on the basis of seniority. They have demanded to appoint the personal doctor of the former Prime Minister late Sushil Koirala, Dr Kabirnath Yogi as the dean.

Dr KC had issued a statement Thursday and put forth six-point demand.

The demands include sacking Dr Tirtha Raj Khaniya from the post of Vice Chancellor of the Trubhuvan University for his involvement in backhand dealings to appoint dean at IOM; fixing MBBS fees at Rs 3.5 million for Kathmandu Valley, Rs 3.85 million for outside the Valley, and Rs 2 million for the bachelor’s in dentistry (BDS) course; halt in granting affiliations to medical colleges until the new medical education bill is approved by parliament; implementation of the recommendations of the Mathema Commission; expediting aking ahead the forwarding process to impeach Lokman Singh Karki, chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), starting probe into the irregularities by CIAA commissioner Raj Narayan Pathak; forming different probe committees to look into irregularities in medical institutions, and taking action against officials of IOM who were alleged by the Jaya Ram Giri Probe Commission.