KATHMANDU, May 10: Parliament renewed the Medical Education Ordinance on Wednesday, just a few days after Dr Govinda KC warned to stage a fast-unto-death if the bill was not endorsed by the House.

The ordinance was tabled in the house for the second time after the first ordinance could not be approved from parliament within 60 days of the start of the parliamentary session last time that had begun on March 4.

The ordinance, which requires public medical colleges to provide 75 percent of their MBBS seats under free scholarship and allows no new affiliation to private medical colleges in the Kathmandu Valley for 10 years, now needs to be replaced by a substitution bill within 60 days of the beginning of the ongoing parliamentary session.

Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel tabled the ordinance in the House today for approval, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST).Dr KC, who began to stage a hunger strike in July 2012 demanding reforms in the medical education sector, started his 14th fast-unto- death from January 8.

He postponed his 15th hunger strike scheduled to start from March 15 following the resignation of Chief Justice Gopal Prasad Parajuli.Dr KC started staging his 13th fast-unto-death from October 5, 2017, demanding that the government introduced the Medical Education Act as per the spirit of the reports recommended by the Mathema Taskforce. On October 23, 2017, the cabinet headed by the then prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba approved the ordinance of the Medical Education Act as per the recommendation from the Mathema Taskforce.

 
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