Nepal’s doctors shut hospitals across the country on Friday demanding that the government accept the demands of a fellow physician and an activist who has been on a hunger strike for 23 days.
Govinda KC, a senior orthopaedic surgeon, has been on a hunger strike demanding amendments to a medical education bill that would reform the country’s medical education system.
The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) announced the protests that closed the hospitals after the upper house of parliament endorsed the Medical Education Bill on Thursday.
“We are hurt by the government’s apathetic attitude towards Dr KC, whose condition has deteriorated in the last few days.
“We warn the government to not force us to take stronger actions,’’ Lochan Karki, an NMA spokesman, said in a statement.
The health workers have halted services nationwide except for emergency and intensive care.
The 61-year-old doctor’s demands included healthcare services for poor people in remote regions and an end to the commercialisation of medical education.
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