KATHMANDU, Jan 3: Dr Govinda KC has postponed his 16th hunger strike, which was to start from Wednesday, by a week.

Issuing a statement on Wednesday, Dr KC, who is currently in Ilam to begin the hunger strike, said he decided to postpone the strike for a week after the parliamentary committee urged him to wait for a few days. “As per the request from Jaya Puri Gharti, chairperson of the Education and Health Committee of parliament, we have decided to wait for the implementation of the agreement till January 9,” he said. 

Dr KC has said that he will be forced to stage yet another hunger strike if the nine-point agreement reached with him on July 26, 2018 is not implemented. “Our responsibility is to improve governance and make the government take action against serious criminals of the insurgency era and the murderers of Nirmala Panta,” said Dr KC. 

According to the agreement signed with Dr KC, the major demands were to be addressed within 15 days to two months. Although four months have already elapsed since the agreement, the government has yet to address his major demands that include promulgation of Medical Education Act and action against 43 officials implicated by a report of former justice Gauri Bahadur Karki for their involvement in irregularities while granting permissions to private medical colleges.

However, the government has only recently formed a couple of panels to study the possibility of running MBBS classes at Karnali Academy of Health Science (KASC) and opening medical colleges in various provinces.

 
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