Doctors end strike

Doctors have called off their nationwide strike from Thursday evening after talks with government authorities.

The Nepal Medical Association (NMA), which announced to close down OPD services in all public and private hospitals around the country from Tuesday, demanding security to medical professionals, decided to end the strike after an agreement with the Health Ministry.

The government has agreed to deploy plainclothes police officials equipped with communication sets at hospitals for the security of medical professionals and promulgate the Health Professionals Protection Act. At least one police officer will be deployed at all zonal hospitals and other major hospitals.

A nine-member committee headed by Dr Nirakar Man Shrestha has been formed to draft the proposed Act.

Representatives of the Population and Social Committee of the parliament, NMA members and senior officials of the Health Ministry were also involved in the negotiation.

“I am hopeful that untoward activities would not repeat in future after this agreement. Hospitals will resume services from this evening,” Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Amik Sherchan told state-owned Radio Nepal.

Similarly, NMA general secretary Dr Kiran Shrestha said, “We have decided to end the strike after we got assurance of security. We definitely feel sorry about the problems caused by the strike, but it should be understood that medical professionals can work more efficiently if they feel safe.”

Thousands of patients in hospitals around the country were either forced to return or wait for the OPD services to resume. At least one death was reported at Bir Hospital on Wednesday due to lack of timely treatment.

Doctors launched three-day strike Tuesday in protest against the attack on the medical staff of Kanti Children’s Hospital in Kathmandu on Monday. Relatives of an 8 months old child, who died during treatment, had manhandled the doctors and nurses, accusing them of carelessness. nepalnews.com mk Dec 28 06