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WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 223 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 34.6 C 6.9 C Monday, October 05, 2020 | 19-06-2077 Nepalgunj Jumla Why Govinda KC’s demands matter even more today as country battles the pandemic Covid-19 has exposed Nepal’s fragile health system and the fasting doctor’s demands for years have been aimed at making health care services accessible to all. BINOD GHIMIRE KATHMANDU, OCT 4 Dr Govinda KC’s 19th fast-unto-death entered its 21st day on Sunday. There has been no word from the govern- ment, except a token call to “end the hunger strike”. The Oli administration has not only adopted a nonchalant attitude POST PHOTO towards KC’s hunger strike and his Dr KC has staged 19 hunger strikes so far. demands but has also made its disdain for the 63-year-old doctor public. has exposed our fragile health care Exactly what it has been doing with system,” said Dr Jiwan Kshetry, a the coronavirus pandemic. vocal supporter of KC who also writes Civil society members say the gov- extensively on health care issues. ernment’s failure to respond to the “Most of KC’s demands revolve pandemic effectively is exactly what around ensuring that people have easy KC had been warning of for years. access to health services.” Nine months into the pandemic, the KC’s demands this time include government has given up on its fight establishing one government medical against Covid-19. It neither had any college each in Sudurpaschim plan nor worked to improve health Province, Province 2, Gandaki care facilities. The country’s health Province and Province 1 and an care facilities have been overwhelmed amendment to the National Medical already. Those who can afford can go Education Act. He is also demanding to private hospitals in case they con- that the government support POST PHOTO: SANJOG MANANDHAR tract the virus; the poor have been left Bayalpata Hospital in Achham, which Students applying for no objection certificates to study abroad crowd at an education ministry office at Kaiser Mahal in Kathmandu on Sunday without maintaining physical distancing to check to fend for themselves. has been providing health care servic- the spread of the coronavirus. The ministry recently resumed issuing the certificates, needed for the transfer of foreign currency through banks to colleges abroad, after a halt since March. Since the very beginning—he first es for free to the people of the region. staged his hunger strike in July, 2012— The Oli administration has so far KC has been calling for ensuring shown no interest in initiating talks health care to all. to break his fast, let alone address Reforms in the medical education his demands. According to doctors sector in Nepal ultimately mean easy attending to him, his health is deterio- Baluwatar keeps mum over Oli’s status even access of the people to health care, rating fast. according to the civil society members KC started his hunger strike from who have in the past made attempts to Babaramasta Temple in Jumla on forge deals with the governments. September 14. He arrived in Kathmandu “KC’s demands have been proven to via Nepalgunj on September 22. after his close aides tested positive for Covid-19 be right even more now, as Covid-19 >> Continued on page 2 No information has been shared if those who have contracted the virus had been in close contact with Oli and whether he’s quarantined himself. Instead, he met Dahal on Sunday. Regmi said he is increasingly con- cerned if attempts are being made to cover up Oli’s health condition. “The prime minister is not just an individual but an institution. Every citizen holds the right to know about their prime minister’s well-being,” Regmi told the Post. “Especially after his aides have tested positive, it becomes imperative that the govern- ment inform the public about the prime minister—whether he was in close contact with them, whether he has begun the quarantine process, whether his swab samples have been collected for testing and whether the result has come.” The government and his party, how- ever, have always been stingy when it comes to disseminating information about Oli’s health. In October-end last year, when Oli was suddenly admitted to a private health facility in FILE PHOTO: PM’S SECRETARIAT Kathmandu, there were just murky Between September 24 and October 1, Oli attended three Cabinet meetings at Baluwatar. details about his health condition. After scores of people in Baluwatar ANIL GIRI conditions. Oli is 68, he underwent a tested positive, the Nepal Communist KATHMANDU, OCT 4 second kidney transplant only in Party (NCP) has postponed its March this year and he is thus immu- Secretariat meeting until further notice. Baluwatar has maintained an uncan- no-comrpromised. Second is for rea- According to a member at Oli’s ny silence even as close to 150 people, sons of transparency. personal secretariat, his meetings including Prime Minister KP Sharma Dr Sher Bahadur Pun, a virologist have been hugely trimmed for the next Oli’s five advisers, have tested positive at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious few days. for Covid-19 there. Nor has his Nepal Disease Hospital, said leaders seem to “The prime minister has limited his Communist Party come up with any be ignoring the government’s health meetings and has been meeting with official statement. protocol. people only if it is absolutely neces- Oli’s advisers Bishnu Rimal, Surya “The protocol should be applicable sary,” said Ramsharan Bajgain, Oli’s Thapa, Rajan Bhattarai and Indra to all, as the infection does not recog- media expert, who also tested positive Bhandari had taken to social media to nise who is a leader and who is a mem- for Covid-19 on Sunday. “I cannot say announce that they had tested positive ber of the public,” Pun told the Post. why nothing has been made public and urged all those who had come in As per his own government’s health with regards to the prime minister’s close contact with them to take pre- protocol, Oli should have put himself health, as it is the job of the doctors.” cautions. in isolation after so many people According to Bajgain, Oli and his According to Lila Bikram Thapa, a around him have tested positive for wife Radhika Shakya’s tests were per- senior public health administrator at the coronavirus, doctors say. formed on Thursday and that the the Epidemiology and Disease Control Given his health condition, Oli rare- results were negative. Division, as of Sunday, 144 people ly steps out of Baluwatar. However, he “I cannot say how many times from Baluwatar have tested positive. has been meeting people, as party Covid-19 tests the prime minister has As many as 23 people tested positive meetings and Cabinet meetings are had in the past,” Bajgain told the Post. on Friday and 28 army and 18 police held at Baluwatar. On Sunday, a day Bajgain said he started his isolation personnel tested positive some 11 days after his advisers declared that they on Sunday. ago. Oli’s personal photographer had tested positive, Oli held a meeting Apart from his meeting with Dahal Rajan Kafle tested positive seven days with the other party chair Pushpa on Sunday, Oli has been constantly ago. Around nine days ago, Oli’s per- Kamal Dahal. meeting others almost on a daily sonal physician Dibya Singh Shah Dr GD Thakur, former director at basis. From September 24 to October tested positive for Covid-19. the Epidemiology and Disease Control 1, Oli attended three Cabinet meet- Public health experts and analysts Division, said the prime minister ings, which are known to the public. say information must be disseminated should have begun the quarantine pro- But there has been no information regarding the coronavirus entering cess rather than meeting other leaders. from Baluwatar on other meetings Baluwatar for two major reasons. “The health protocol is applicable to the prime minister has had with First, Oli’s age and his underlying the prime minister as well and he any other leader or his advisers, should strictly abide by it,” including those who have been infect- Thakur told the Post. ed with the virus. Baluwatar has not come up According to sources, Oli’s personal with any statement on how photographer would spend around 10 closely the prime minister was to 12 hours with him until he went working with his advisers over into isolation last week after testing the past few days. If they had positive for the virus. not been in close contact with Questions are also being asked him, then that too must be made if the prime minister’s advisers took clear, according to Khemraj a lackadaisical approach despite Regmi, executive president of knowing that the virus had entered Transparency International Baluwatar and refused to abide by the Nepal, who is also a former secre- health protocol. tary of the government of Nepal. >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K MONDAY, OCTOBER 05, 2020 | 02 NATIONAL Number of Covid-19 deaths increasing in Province 1 Sixteen people in the province died due to the virus in the past week, according to data. DEO NARAYAN SAH & JITENDRA SAH Hospital. “But the situation has MORANG, OCT 4 become more challenging, as people with no pre-existing health conditions The number of Covid-19 deaths has have started to die of the virus. There increased in Province 1 in the last few are no other alternatives than follow- weeks.

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