Kathmandu, March 4

An ‘action committee’ was formed by the government to address the demands of government doctors staging protests for the past two months expressing disagreement with the Civil Servants Adjustment Bill.

A meeting chaired by Secretary of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya decided to form an action committee, yesterday. According to Dipendra Pandey, president of Government Doctors’ Association of Nepal, the committee was formed to amend some of the points in the draft of the ‘Federal Civil Servants Act’.

He said that the government doctors have been staging protests demanding a provision for adjusting doctors from the centre. “But the Civil Servants Adjustment Bill hasn’t addressed our demands. It has a provision of adjusting government doctors through local and provincial level, which can affect not only doctor’s career but also the health of the general public.”

Meanwhile, without addressing the problems of government doctors, the adjustment bill was passed by the House of Representatives. “So we are compelled to stage protests,” he said.

He also said that on Saturday, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli urged doctors to hold a meeting to sort out the problem. “The prime minister seemed positive towards our demand and promised to amend Federal Civil Servants Act to address our demands.”

According to Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, there are around 25,000 civil servants working in the health sector across the country. “Discussion on amendment of the Federal Civil Servants Act will be held tomorrow and the problem will be finalised soon,” said Dr Pandey.