Dharan, July 27:

Saying that the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) is on its sick bed and urgently needs to be cured, locals have begun a signature drive to urge the government to appoint officials to the high level posts in the institute lying vacant for long. The drive began yesterday.

Dharan denizens have placed a register in a stall set up at the main gate of the institute and another at Bhanu chowk with a similar register for people to enter their signatures.

They also hoisted a banner at the chowk proclaiming their drive to press the government to fill the vacancies immediately. The Civil Monitoring and Concern Forum is spearheading the drive. Expressing concern about the deteriorating quality of the institute’s services, forum president Tilak Rai said: “The institute is the jewel of Dharan. We are worried over its decline.”

Forum vice-president Rajendra Sharma said the signatures collected will be forwarded to the institute’s Chancellor and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. He added that the forum also submitted a memorandum on behalf of the townsfolk to the district level leaders of the eight political parties apprising them of the problem.

Earlier, 1300 of the institute’s health workers had gone on a relay sit-in to press the government to fill the vacancies.