Nepali Doctors Warn of Nation-wide Protest on Affiliation Issue

August 22, 2017

Nepali doctors’ community has warned the Nepal Government of holding stern protests across the nation if the latter fails to revoke the affiliation granted to National Medical College (NMC).

NMA said the government’s move to grant affiliation to new medical college in the Valley is against all the agreements government had reached with NMA and Dr Govinda KC.

This shows the government’s irresponsible nature towards country’s medical sector, NMA added.

“If government turns a deaf ear to our warning, we will be forced to resort to the protest that could lead to shutdown of health institutions and the government will have to take the responsibility for the resulting situation,” said Dr Muktiram Shrestha, President of National Medical Association (NMA), the umbrella of Nepali doctors.

Dr Shrestha found fault with granting affiliation to medical colleges that are not popular and do not have adequate infrastructure, and urged the government to scrap the affiliation.

This decision by the government is significant in the light of the fact that the government had entered into an agreement with NMC and Dr Govinda KC stating that no affiliations will be granted to medical colleges in the Kathmandu Valley for ten years.

Dr Govinda KC, a senior orthopedic surgeon at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), has been undertaking protests over the years seeking reforms in the Nepali medical education sector.

Moratorium in affiliation to new medical colleges in Kathmandu Valley has been one of his key demands towards decentralizing medical services in remote parts of the country.