Kathmandu, May 22

Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party Office has urged the government to address the genuine demands of agitating nurses, who have been staging fast-unto-death for 13 days.

Issuing a press statement today, Parliamentary Party Office of the main opposition said the government had ignored their genuine demands despite the fact that the nurses were struggling for the good of nursing education, their professionalism, security and wages.

The statement read that the government’s apathy to the peaceful protest of nurses was very unfortunate. The health condition of agitating nurse Jita Baral is continuously deteriorating and it is the responsibility of the government to save her life, the release said. It also urged the government to be very serious in such cases.

NC Parliamentary Party has also demanded that the government form a committee and hold talks with nurses as soon as possible and address their genuine demands.

Baral had begun staging fast-unto-death on May 10 at Nursing Association of Nepal, Lazimpat. After her health condition got critical, she was admitted to BP Memorial Health Institute and Research Centre.

Baral has been staging hunger strike demanding quality in education and nursing services and to fill all the posts of the Nepal Nursing Council, stop discrimination between other health workers and nurses and to formulate law regarding workplace violence against nurses.

She has also demanded creation of vacant post for four nurses in the local level and health posts should have separate department of nursing at the provincial and local levels and nurses should be placed in the adjustment committee of the government as well.

Baral has claimed that unless her demands got addressed and discussed in the Ministry of Health and Population, she wouldn’t end her hunger strike.

Along with Baral, Diki Sherpa, nurse of Bhaktapur-based Shahid Dharma Bhakta National Transplant Centre has also been staging hunger strike at the hospital.