Underpaying medical colleges not to get any govt support, says Health Minister

Kathmandu: Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Poudel has said that the private medical college will not receive any support from the ministry until they provide subsistence allowance to resident doctors like government medical colleges.

Health Minister Poudel said this during a meeting held between the Nepal Medical Association and representatives of resident doctors at the Ministry of Health on Thursday.

The meeting was held to address the concerns raised by resident doctors who are currently staging protests across the country. Some 2,500 resident doctors are protesting. In Kathmandu, they are staging a sit-in protest at Maitighar Mandala daily in their duty uniform.

It may be noted that the Medical Education Commission had directed that resident doctors in private medical institutions be given subsistence allowance similar to that provided by the government.

The commission had decided to provide a monthly subsistence allowance of Rs 48,000 to resident doctors studying for postgraduate (PG) medical education. Even after two months of the decision private medical colleges have failed to implement it.

The agitating doctors are demanding that all MD, MS, and MDS resident doctors of all private medical colleges paid monthly remuneration (similar to the government eighth level). They are also demanding that a draft committee be formed to formulate a procedure for operating postgraduate programs, including a separate regulatory point system, working hours, leave, remuneration, arrangements to ensure transparency and fairness of examinations, conduct and behavior of university and medical college administration, conduct and behavior of teaching personnel, etc.

Resident doctors say the morale to work has decreased as the value of labour has not been recognized.
Resident dental doctor at Nepal Medical College in Jorpati, Kathmandu, Dr Ritu Sharma has been taking part in a dharna at Maitighar Mandala for three weeks now.

The hospital she is currently working is paying a monthly salary of Rs 19,000 to a resident doctor. “A doctor working at the same level in a government hospital is getting Rs 48,000, what will we do with Rs 19,000?, she said.

Some resident doctors said they had received threats for joining the protest. “No matter how many threats we receive, we will not return to work until the money is deposited in our accounts,” said a doctor.

Sheshraj Ghimire, coordinator of the ‘Safe Workplace Struggle Committee for Health Workers’, says that we are asking for the minimum price of labour. The state should take it seriously and emphasize implementation.

Meanwhile, Nepal Medical Association President Dr Anil Bikram Karki says that the state should implement its decision by taking ownership of its decision.

According to Dr Karki, a decision has been made to continue the agitation until the subsistence allowance is deposited in the bank account and thereby not to participate in treatment services except emergency and intensive care units.