Kathmandu. Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Poudel has said that if private medical colleges do not implement the system of providing subsistence allowance like the government, all the work of the colleges related to the ministry will be stopped.
In a discussion held between the Nepal Medical Association and representatives of resident doctors at the Ministry of Health today, he said that there is no point in arguing about the fact that the Medical Education Commission has already decided on the issue of providing subsistence allowance.
Minister Poudel said, ‘No work related to the ministry will move forward until private medical colleges implement the system of providing subsistence allowance. There is no possibility of going back on the decision.’ He said that the decision to provide a subsistence allowance of Rs 48,000 to private medical colleges should be implemented and then negotiations can be held on increasing the postgraduate seats and fees that the colleges have been demanding.
A team including Minister Poudel, Nepal Medical Association President Dr. Anil Bikram Karki, and Shesh Raj Ghimire, coordinator of the ‘Safe Workplace Struggle Committee for Health Workers’, an organization formed by resident doctors, met for talks.
Resident doctors working in private medical colleges have been protesting for the past 22 days, demanding a subsistence allowance like the government. Doctors have warned that they will shut down all non-emergency services tomorrow, Friday.
The decision of the 16th meeting of the Medical Education Commission had directed that resident doctors be given a subsistence allowance similar to the government. But the doctors have been protesting after private medical colleges did not implement the decision.
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