THT 10 YEARS AGO: Parties poles apart on CJ’s appointment

Kathmandu, September 7, 2007

The Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee (PHSC) today failed to decide on the appointment of Justice Kedar Prasad Giri as Chief Justice due to polarisation between MPs of eight political parties.

MPs of the CPN (Maoist), UML and Jana Morcha Nepal have opposed Giri’s appointment as CJ. The sub-committee headed by MP Dilendra Prasad Badu failed to submit its report to the PHSC which was formed yesterday to investigate complaints against Giri and advise the PHSC on whether or not to accept the Constitutional Council’s recommendation to appoint Giri.

Giri was supposed to be appointed for the post today as the incumbent CJ Dilip Kumar Paudel retired today. Giri would be officiating CJ from Sunday on the basis of seniority as Article 103 (4) of the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007 states that if the office of the CJ becomes vacant, or the CJ is unable to carry out the duties of his/her office due to illness or any other reason, or he/she cannot be present in the office due to a leave of absence or his/her being outside of Nepal, the seniormost judge shall act as the officiating CJ.

MPs of the UML, CPN (Maoist) and Jana Morcha Nepal and the Left Front, who are among the members of the subcommittee, have said Giri cannot be appointed CJ as he has a “controversial” track record. MPs Krishna Pratap Malla, Bharat Shah, Navaraj Subedi, Asta Laxmi Shakya, Dilaram Acharya, Khimlal Devkota, Mangal Siddhi Manandhar and Kamala Panta are other members of the sub-committee.

Seven hospitals declared baby-friendly

Kathmandu, September 7, 2007

Seven hospitals in different parts of the country have been recognised as ‘Baby Friendly Hospitals’ for promoting ‘proper nursing formula.’

The hospitals had adopted the ‘Baby Friendly Initiative’ launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Patan Hospital, TU Teaching Hospital, Maternity Hospital-Thapathali, Bhaktapur District Hospital, BP Koirala Institute of Health Science, Koshi Zonal Hospital and Hetauda Hospital have been designated as baby-friendly by the Child Health Division for fostering evidence-based strategies concerning infant feeding and caring.

A hospital is adjudged baby-friendly if it has adopted a baby-friendly policy and communicates it to all health care staffers, imparts proper nursing training to health care staff, provides correct counselling services to all pregnant women, promotes early breast-feeding (within one hour of delivery), and exclusive and complementary breastfeeding up to six months.

The hospital vying for this status should have, among other things, taught mothers to maintain lactation even if they are separated from their infants and strictly prohibited food and drink, except mother’s milk, to the newborns unless medically indicated.