DHARAN, AUGUST 12

Nepali Congress-aligned Tarun Dal and Nepal Student Union staged a demonstration in Dharan today seeking the fulfilment of demands, including a halt to the Senate meeting of BP Koirala Institute of Health and Sciences.

Demonstrating in front of the institute’s main gate, the organisations have accused BPKIHS Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Gyanendra Giri of turning a blind eye to the need to reform the institute and asked him and the institute to ensure easy treatment of patients.

They have also sought that the institute bring into operation with immediate effect a COV- ID Hospital that was inaugurated long ago, besides the demand to halt the senate meeting.

“It was the height of irresponsibility of the vice-chancellor to head to Kathmandu to take part in some meeting instead of doing the needful to manage treatment service amidst the present COVID-19 crisis,” said Tarul Dal Dharan town president Himal Shrestha.

“Why hasn’t the pledged COVID-19 hospital come into operation even three months after its inauguration?” he asked.

As cadres at the rally that started from Buddha Chowk of Dharan-18 entered the premises of the institute and started out to the office of the vice-chancellor, police stopped them briefly, leading to some pushing and shoving.

After the padlock hung at the Office of VC was broken by police soon after the office was padlocked yesterday, cadres of the organisations set out for the VC’s office to padlock it again today. Prevented from going to the VC’s office, they had staged a protest meeting on the premises itself.

BPKIHS senate member Prof Dr GP Rauniyar, who is also chief of the Pharmacology Department of the institute, also sought that the senate meeting be halted. Writing to Health Minister Bhanubhakta Dhakal, Rauniyar conveyed his concerns that it would not be appropriate to conduct a senate meeting at a time when COVID-19 was spreading.

He suggested that a virtual meeting could be held instead if a meeting was a must.

Meanwhile, the Medical and Dental Teachers’ Welfare Society has condemned the padlocking of the office of the vice-chancellor of BPKIHS.

Issuing a statement today, the society condemned the padlocking of the VC’s office, saying no political interference in any guise was acceptable at the institute. The society also demanded that the institute soon bring into operation a COVID-19 hospital.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 13, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.