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TUTH agitators offer no respite
KATHMANDU, MAR 28 -
There’s no respite for service see-kers with doctors and students of the Institute of Medicine (IoM) deciding to continue their strike until the government forms an independent high-level committee to probe irregularities in connection with postgraduate entrance exams and suspends office-bearers of the Dean’s Office.
The decision to continue the strike was taken at a meeting of agitating doctors, professors and students at Maharajgunj-based Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), according to Dr. Bishnu Pokharel, president of Resident Doctors’ Association.
Locals had padlocked all four gates at IoM, stating that the lockout would continue until the agitators resumed hospital services. But police intervened and opened the gates after 4 p.m. The meeting took place even as a ministerial team released a statement on Saturday, pledging action against those involved in irregularities. The team agreed to form a committee comprising senior professors with clean track record and conduct the entrance exams as soon as possible.
The Hospital Management Committee has warned of action against the agitators if they do not return to work, but no one paid heed, according to Dr. Arun Sayami, the committee chairman and IoM dean, who is one of those accused of taking bribe to the tune of Rs. 12 million to manipulate results of the tests. TUTH has some 500 doctors and students.
The hospital, which treats around 1,500 patients daily, had decided to halt all services from March 15. At present, only the emergency ward is partially open, according to hospital officials. Five to 10 patients visit the hospital daily, said hospital officials.
Meanwhile, the CPN-UML has flayed the agitators’ move of continuing the hospital shutdown, though Tribhuvan University’s high-level committee has “heeded the agitators’ concerns” by cancelling the exams and pledging to look into allegations of irregularities.
Posted on: 2010-03-29 08:24
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