KATHMANDU, Oct 9: The government refused to sit down for a meeting with the representatives of senior orthopedic surgeon Dr Govinda KC, who has been staging a hunger strike demanding reforms in the medical sector.

The meeting, which was scheduled to be held Friday morning, was cancelled as the government talks team failed to discuss the draft – prepared during yesterday’s meeting – with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

According to a member of the government talks team, the meeting was cancelled as “we failed to discuss the draft with the prime minister”.

Likewise, a representative of Dr KC said PM KP Oli is reluctant to fulfill the demands of Dr KC. “The health of Dr KC is already deteriorating, but the government is reluctant to fulfill the demands,” said the member, adding that the 10-hour long meeting held yesterday was positive, but the government side refused to sit down for a meeting today.

The government committee led by Secretary Gopinath Mainali has Dr Gunaraj Lohani, joint-secretary at the Ministry of Health and Population, and Dr Dilip Sharma, director at Medical Education Commission as members.

Dr KC has been staging the hunger strike for the past 26 days to exert pressure on the government to implement the agreements reached with him in the past. There have been calls from various quarters to address his demands and save Dr KC's life as the government failed to show any proactive initiative to end his fast-unto-death.

Dr KC's supporters have formed a four-member talks team led by Dr Jiban Chhetri to hold talks with the government. The panel has Dr Anjani Kumar Jha, Dr Lochan Karki and Om Prakash Aryal as members.

 
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