WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 226 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 35.4 C 8.3 C Thursday, October 08, 2020 | 22-06-2077 Bhairahawa Jumla A state of status quo After immense pressure, the government has formed a panel to hold talks with KC, but the way it ignored him for 24 days and has failed on various fronts including the fight against the pandemic shows the Oli administration is losing its grip on governance, analysts say. ANIL GIRI continued his hunger strike for the past KATHMANDU, OCT 7 two weeks. On Wednesday, a medical team attend- The country’s Covid-19 cases have been ing to him issued a statement, saying that rising. Dr Govinda KC has been on a fast- the doctor’s health is deteriorating fast unto-death for the last 24 days. The eco- and that he is in immediate need of criti- nomic outlook looks grim. Government cal care. KC, however, has refused to be offices are being shut one after another as admitted to the critical care unit. staffers are testing positive for the corona- Until Wednesday afternoon, the virus. The Oli administration, however, government had just “urged” KC to break seems to be indifferent. his fast. Last week, Foreign Minister Ever since Prime Minister KP Sharma Pradeep Gyawali, who is also the govern- Oli returned from the hospital in March ment spokesperson, said during a regular after his second kidney transplant, press briefing that “the government Baluawatar, his residence, has become the requests KC to call off his hunger strike, country’s administrative hub. All the deci- as most of his demands have been met”. sions are taken there, but Baluwatar has On Tuesday, Education Secretary been extremely stingy when it comes to Gopinath Mainali met with KC and repeat- sharing information with the public. Even ed the request. five days after his three close aides The main opposition Nepali Congress declared that they had tested positive for on Wednesday came down heavily on the Covid-19, there has been no word from POST PHOTOS Oli administration for ignoring KC and Baluwatar on Oli’s status. Observers and civil society leaders say Dr Govinda KC’s demands, reiterated through a number of his hunger strikes, serve broader public interest. not taking the initiative to form a team to “Sometimes, I wonder if our country is hold talks with KC. even being governed. It looks like no one The Covid-19 pandemic, which has investigating their properties are also on Civil society members say the Oli knows what’s going around,” said Chandi exposed Nepal’s fragile health system, has the list of KC’s demands. administration’s utter disregard to a Prasad Shrestha, a former secretary at the also put a spotlight on why KC’s demands The pandemic has Kedar Bhakta Mathema, a former social crusader who is on a peaceful pro- Ministry for Home Affairs. matter even more. vice-chancellor at Tribhuvan University test undermines democratic principles. “Ministers in the Oli Cabinet have Calls have been growing lately demand- put a spotlight on why who led a panel to recommend reforms in Some call it an irony that a government become so subdued and subservient that ing that the Oli administration initiate Dr KC’s demands the medical education sector, told the Post led by the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), they are even afraid to speak up. They fear dialogue with KC as the orthopaedic earlier this week that the doctor has not which is led by Oli and Pushpa Kamal they will be shown the door if they talk.” surgeon’s health is deteriorating fast. But matter even more. put forth any demands that the govern- Dahal, is contemptuous for a peaceful pro- Despite facing criticism for its poor the administration has been acting as if it ment cannot address. test, which is guaranteed by the constitu- handling of the pandemic, the Oli admin- has neither heard of or seen KC and his Civil society members say if the Oli tion. Both Oli and Dahal have a legacy of istration has not bothered to take any fur- condition. The 63-year-old doctor started his hun- administration cannot address all of the bloody armed struggles. When Oli started ther measures to protect the citizens. “The way this government is function- ger strike from Jumla on September 14 demands, it can at least form a dialogue his political career some six decades ago, Instead, it looks like it has left the people ing does not give us a sense that it is a with a list of demands, focusing on the team to initiate talks to save the he was one of those radical communists to fend for themselves. The number of democratically elected government,” said implementation of the past agreements, doctor’s life. The Oli administration who beheaded people terming them “class cases has been rising by the day. About Daman Nath Dhungana, a civil society various governments, including the one instead has nakedly displayed its con- enemy”. Decades later, Dahal led the “peo- two weeks ago, the Health Ministry said a leader and former House Speaker. “This led by Oli had reached with him. tempt for KC, as it has done in the past for ple’s war”, an armed insurgency against lockdown could be imposed again if the government has turned into the cabal of a His demands include establishing one dissenting voices. the state, which resulted in the loss of number of active cases crossed the 25,000 section of leaders. It is least bothered government medical college each in On September 22, when KC returned to more than 13,000 lives. mark. It reached the grim milestone on about people’s aspirations. Nor is it Sudurpaschim Province, Province 2, Kathmandu from Jumla via Nepalgunj, Both Oli and Dahal take pride in their Wednesday. inclined to make inclusive decisions.” Gandaki Province and Province 1 and an the Oli government deployed police to for- movements, saying it is because of their Nepal reported 3,439 new coronavirus Public intellectuals, opposition parties amendment to the National Medical cibly take the doctor to the National struggle in the past that the country has infections on Wednesday, the highest for a and civil society members say the Oli gov- Education Act. Probing corruption cases Trauma Centre, against his wish to go to achieved a sea change. The Nepal single day, as the national Covid-19 tally ernment’s nonchalant attitude towards against incumbent and former commis- Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Communist Party says it is leading a reached 94,253. With 15 new deaths, the the doctor who has been on a hunger strike sioners of the Commission for After much criticism, he was allowed to go “pro-people” government. coronavirus toll has reached 578. for the past 24 days amazes them. Investigation of Abuse of Authority and to the Teaching Hospital, where he has >> Continued on page 2 POST PHOTO: MANOJ POUDEL Children play at Bardahawa in Kapilvastu Municipality-2 with masks on. As Covid-19 cases see an exponential rise, doctors advise caution. Active Covid-19 cases soar to 25,007 after country sees new spike in daily infections Public health experts say the number of cases could be much higher, as many asymptomatic patients are yet to be tested, which raises risk of virus spreading further. ARJUN POUDEL Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari, the joint Valley have already run out of inten- KATHMANDU, OCT 7 spokesperson for the Health Ministry, sive care beds, and ventilators and said that his ministry had recom- doctors have warned that soon there Nepal on Wednesday recorded the mended a lockdown if the active cases won’t be enough health workers to highest number of new coronavirus crossed the 25,000 mark. attend to patients. cases for a single day, as the country “But it is up to the Cabinet to Public health experts estimate that logged 3,439 infections, pushing the decide,” Adhikari told the Post. “That the actual number of the infected peo- national tally to 94,253. With 15 more was just our recommendation.” ple could be many times higher than deaths reported, the countrywide toll As of Wednesday, the number of what is being detected every day, as has reached 578. The new infections active coronavirus cases in the coun- many infected people may not have meant the country also clocked the try stood at 25,007. Public health been tested—either because they are government’s warning target of 25,000 experts say that the record surge in not going for tests or because they active cases, a mark the Health the new cases is alarming, but it was have no symptoms or they lack the Ministry had said would lead to yet expected as the government, by and wherewithal to get tested. another lockdown. large, failed to take any serious meas- Since Sukraraj Tropical and ures to contain the spread of the Infectious Disease Hospital conducts virus and improve facilities to tests for free, it is always crowded with treat the infected. people having to wait for hours for “It is the nature of this corona- their turn. Private health facilities virus, which spreads like a wild- and laboratories do tests for a fee, fire,” Dr Kiran Pandey, a consult- which not many can afford. ant physician at HAMS Hospital, Asymptomatic but infected people, told the Post. “Spikes in the new whose number is over 50 percent of cases show that the virus has the total cases, are even not seeking been spreading at a rapid pace tests, according to Dr Sher Bahadur and in an uncontrolled way.” Pun, chief of the Clinical Research As of Wednesday, 33,771 people Unit at Sukraraj Tropical and tested positive in Kathmandu Infectious Disease Hospital.