KATHMANDU, Dec 19: The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an interim order to reinstate Santosh Paudel, director of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS).
On Tuesday, the SC issued an interim order in favor of Dr Paudel to assume the responsibilities of the director of the Academy for a period of up to two years.
Bir Hospital Director Dr Paudel knocks on SC’s doors
Two weeks ago, Dr Paudel filed a case in the Supreme Court saying that he had been called to appear at the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) without reason. On the instructions of Health Minister Mohan Bahadur Basnet, a letter was sent to Paudel to appear at the Ministry of Health and Population from December 1.
Despite receiving the letter, he did not go to appear at the health ministry saying that there was no judicial process. Dr Paudel was called by the MoHP to appear in the ministry along with the letters of affiliation to political parties and people's organizations.
Soon after the letter was sent to him, Shrawan Kumar Thapa was given the responsibility as Acting Director of Bir Hospital. The MoHP had published a letter from the Election Commission and the National Vigilance Center saying that it had received information that Director Paudel was affiliated with a mass organization of CPN-UML.
Dr Paudel claimed that he was not active in a political party and was not in any professional organization.
