Offices of BPKIHS executive body padlocked

DHARAN, April 6:Staffers of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in Dharan on Sunday padlocked offices of senior officials of the institute two days after the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) raided the institute and seized essential documents from its four departments.

Employees' Welfare Standing Committee, led by Rajan Koirala, padlocked four departments of the BPKIHS to protest the statement of Vice-chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Balbhadra Prasad Das published in a local newspaper. In the statement he had called the employees of the institute fraudsters.Claiming that the VC's statement was derogatory, irate employees of BPKIHS padlocked the offices of VC Das, Rector Prof. Dr. Bikram Prasad Shrestha, Registrar Tul Bahadur Shrestha and Hospital Director Prof. Dr. Arvind Kumar Sinha.

The agitating staffers have demanded the resignation of the executive body of the institute. The body consists of the hospital's VC, rector, registrar and director.

Dissatisfied committee has also called for 12 percent increment in allowances and releasing the report of high level commission's salary assessment committee's report.

Earlier, the regional office of CIAA had seized documents from those departments on Friday suspecting financial irregularities.

Following the CIAA's raid, the VC's statement was published in a local newspaper. It reads, "Some fraud staff of the hospital may have reported to the CIAA to defame the institute. I will find those behind this act and take actions against."

Following the publication of the statement, the employees' welfare committee had called for an emergency meeting on Saturday that decided to padlock the offices in protest, informed Rajan Koirala, president of the committee.

Koirala further said that the agitating staffers will never negotiate with the existing executive body of the BPKIHS that had reportedly insulted them in a statement given to the newspaper. The agitating staff said that they would sit for talks only with the officials from Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, VC Das told Republica, "I have not pointed finger at any particular staff or group as fraudster. I was referring to anyone who complained to the CIAA about the internal activities of the institute," Das said.

It was just a misinterpretation, he added.

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