KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 11

The Nepal Medical Association has decided to shut health services other than emergency across the country tomorrow to protest police action against a doctor who was standing outside National Trauma Centre before the president's carcade passed by.

According to the NMA, all services except emergency services in all health institutions and hospitals - government and non-government, private, cooperative health institutions, hospitals, and private and government medical colleges - will be shut across the country tomorrow.

A National Trauma Centre orthopaedic surgeon, Janith Singh, was injured yesterday when police used force to clear the road for the president's cavalcade.

According to a statement issued by NMA President Lochan Karki and General Secretary Badri Rizal, an emergency meeting of the central executive committee of the association decided to close all health services, other than emergency, in government and private hospitals.

The statement said the doctors wanted a fair investigation into the case, necessary action against erring police personnel, and a review of the VVIP security protocol so that general public was not inconvenienced during VVIP movement.

Earlier, doctors at Bir Hospital and National Trauma Centre had decided not to provide outpa-tient department services to protest yesterday's incident.

Doctors working in hospitals across the capital later staged a protest at Maitighar Mandala.

They were also joined by human rights activists. Orthopaedic surgeon Janith Singh, who sustained head injuries in police action, is undergoing treatment and is in ICU.

'It is ironical that ambulances ferrying ailing people are stopped for easy access to the president and other VVIPs,' said Karki.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 12, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.