KATHMANDU, JULY 31
Senior orthopaedic surgeon and medical sector reformist Dr Govinda KC has announced he will stage yet another fast-unto-death strike if the government does not show prompt response to end the irregularities in medical studies by the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training and other medical sectors.
Addressing a press conference in Kathmandu today, Dr KC said the seat allocation for medical classes run by CTEVT is in the clutches of the medical mafia, supporters of different parties and employees and thus do not reach the real deserving and needy students.
He has asked the government to scrap the seat allocation system and has pointed the failure of the Minister of Education, Science and Technology Ashok Kumar Rai.
"A suspicion has arisen about the education minister supporting the mafia in seat allocation and admission process in various health related classes run by CTEVT,"Dr KC said. He further clarified that Minister Rai's foul play had been suspect ever since he started supporting the illegal activities of the mafia rather than punishing them.Dr KC, famous for his stern hunger strikes for weeks, has been exerting pressure against the government to bring reforms in the medical sector. It was Dr KC's vision of establishing the powerful Medical Education Commission to manage all sorts of medical education through one system. Today, Dr KC said efforts were being made to destroy the Medical Education Commission and reverse the provisions of the Medical Education Act that was devised after effort of over 15 years. He accused Minister Rai, who is also the co-chairman of the Commission, of supporting the mafia in their attempt to make the Commission ineffective and a leaderless organisation.
He has asked the government to correct its course, dismiss the guilty officials and form a recommendation committee within a week for the appointment of the Vice-chairman of the Medical Education Commission. He also asked the government to complete the selection process before the end of the term of the current vice-chairman so that the MEC would not be left without a leader.
He has given an untimatum of around 15 days and said he would be forced to stage another hunger strike from August 14 if his demands were not addressed.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 1, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
