Agitating docs call off protests temporarily

Kathmandu / Sept 4: Protesting doctors have withdrawn their protests for a week following an agreement between the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) and government. The medical association had announced a series of protests against government’s criminal code stating that it treated doctors as criminals.

As a result, the NMA had decided to halt all of its services except in cases of emergency, thereby barring thousands of patients with their access to health services across the country.

Yesterday, a negotiation team of the NMA had inked a three point agreement with state minister for health, Dr. Surendra Kumar Yadav. The agreement agrees to scrap sub-clause 2 of Clause 230 of the newly introduced criminal code.

Apart from Clause 230, the NMA has urged the government to amend clauses 231, 232 and 240 as it categorizes doctors as criminals. The codes have provisioned three to five-year imprisonment to a doctor as well as a fine of Rs. 30,000 if a patient dies due to doctor’s negligence.