Services affected as doctors continue protests

Kathmandu, Sept. 30: Dev Prasad Sada, a 47-year-old, was getting ready to visit the National Trauma Centre on Friday as he had an appointment to remove screws from a metal plate inserted in his right leg after a road accident two months ago. However, when he tried contacting the doctor to confirm the appointment, he was suggested to stay back home.

"Sorry, Dev sir. Got busy with the meetings. It has been decided to shut down services today as well. Please see me after the strike. My apologies for the inconvenience," the doctor texted Sada.

Alongside the National Trauma Centre, resident doctors under the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) have been in protest for the past four days since September 26 following the assaults on doctors in Pokhara, Chitwan and Lalitpur on the same day on September 25. Following the assaults and vandalism of September 25, residents and graduated doctors have shut down all the services, except for emergency cases in protest.  

The protest by the resident doctors of the NAMS has affected health services in the National Trauma Centre, Bir Hospital, and 10 other affiliated health centres in the Kathmandu Valley.

Similarly, resident doctors of the Patan Academy of Health Sciences and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital are also on strike, preventing thousands of patients from receiving basic diagnoses and treatment from the major tertiary health centres of the country.

Expressing solidarity with the protest, resident doctors from medical colleges outside the valley as well as health workers from a large number of primary health centres and district hospitals have suspended the services demanding a safer workplace.

Hundreds of doctors had also marched for four consecutive days along the Maitighar-New Baneshwor road. A struggle committee for a safe workplace for health workers has also been formed in coordination between resident doctors throughout the country to lead the protests.

The protest continued on Friday despite the assurance from the Ministry of Health and Population and the Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure a safe workplace and action against the assaulters. The ministries had issued statements on Wednesday and Thursday requesting the doctors to end their protest and resume basic services.

"The protest will continue until our three demands are met. The first is the effective implementation of 'jail without bail' against assailants and vandals. 

The second demand is the formation of a coordination committee comprising of the hospital chief, chief of a nearby police station, representative of Civil Society or Consumer Rights Protection Committee and a legal practitioner to ensure a safe workplace," read a statement by the struggle committee.

The third demand is the formation of a high-level committee to study the causes of assaults on health workers and recommendations to prevent and mitigate such incidents. As per the struggle committee, the government should implement every recommendation from the committee.

Nevertheless, speaking at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for Health on Friday, Minister for Health and Population Mohan Bahadur Basnet said that the government was positive regarding the doctors' demands. "The government will deploy armed security personnel at hospitals if needed to ensure a secure environment for health workers," he said.

The committee also directed the Minister to address the demands of the agitating doctors and create a safer workplace for them.

 The Ministry of Health and Population has also directed 

every health centre to install a board with details on punishment against assailants and vandals in a conspicuous manner. 

Doctors have also demanded an amendment to the Security of the Health Workers and Health Organisations Act, 2010. "Punishment and fine against assailants should be increased to three years and Rs. 300,000 respectively. Both imprisonment and fine should be enforced against such assaulters," the struggle committee demands.

Currently, the punishment for those who assault health workers is a fine of Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 20,000 or imprisonment for a term of one month to one year or with both punishments according to the gravity of the offence.

The doctors have also demanded a provision that ensures action against security personnel for not providing security to health workers and institutions during assaults and vandalism. 

A police inspector, who is now suspended, was seen calming vandals of Manipal Pokhara College of Medical Science (MpCOMS) on September 25 saying that the doctors were beaten to a pulp by the security forces. 

Responding to an agreement made public on Thursday stating that the doctors of MpCOMS had postponed the protests, resident doctors there stated that the agreement did not involve them.

Doctors Society of Nepal, a group of resident doctors, has also called for a mass rally from Maitighar to New Baneshwor on Saturday, September 30. It has been supported by the struggle committee.

Issuing a notice on Friday, the Nepal Medical Association has also shown solidarity in all the protests launched by the struggle committee and has demanded the government fulfil the demands without delay.