KATHMANDU: Nepal Health Workers’ Union (NHWU) today declared that it would close health institutions nationwide from September 12 if their demands were not addressed on time. NHWU organised a sit- in protest in front of the Ministry of Health and Population for two hours, today. The Union has threatened to close health centres if the Health Service Act is not amended on time. Union president Bhagirath Baniya said that the health service act has been in operation without any amendments for the last three years. That has created obstacles in their posting, he added. “Among the 27,000 posts, 2,700 are lying vacant at the ministry alone” informed Baniya. He also linked the vacuum hence created to the diarrhoeal outbreak that caused deaths in hundreds in the mid- and the far-west for the last few months. He , however, urged that the posting and promotion of the health personnels should be transparent. He also demanded that there be no political intervention in the health sector. He accused the ministry of preparing a fake report after they had halted the routine reporting from the district health offices since August. “We had demanded the special package for community female health volunteers and also for the operation of the government programme in the local level” the president said. NHWU also demanded that health be declared a fundamental right in the new constitution and urged the government to create necessary infrastructure to that effect. “The health sector should be declared zone of peace” the president stressed. He further added that there should be a provision of quality test before the medicines are dispatched and that the transaction of the medicines should be made easy. He also confirmed that they had submitted their memorandum time and again to the concerned authorities. According to NHWU, there are 16,000 members affiliated to them at present.