Kathmandu, June 19: The Medical Education Commission, Nepal, has decided to give affiliation of medical college to B&C Hospital in Jhapa.
The 14th meeting of the commission held in Baluwatar on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has decided to grant affiliation to B&C to teach medical education as per the order of the Supreme Court.
On 12 Chait 2080 BS, the joint bench of Supreme Court Justices Kumar Chudal and Saranga Subedi ordered the affiliation of B&C Hospital, which is run by controversial figure and medical entrepreneur Durga Prasain, to a medical college.
Likewise, on Jestha 14, the Supreme Court issued an order in the name of Kathmandu University and Medical Education Commission to grant affiliation within 15 days. After the mandate, the meeting of Kathmandu University Executive Committee on 27 Jestha sent a letter to the Medical Education Commission with a recommendation to give affiliation.
“Since the order has come from the honorable court, the prime minister argued that the decision should be respected and moved forward,” a member of the meeting said, quoting the prime minister’s statement, “Now let’s proceed with this matter according to the decision of the Supreme Court.”
The main agenda of the commission’s meeting on Tuesday was the issue of B&C. The co-chairmen of the Commission, Health and Population Minister Pradeep Yadav and Education, Science and Technology Minister Sumana Shrestha also participated in the meeting.
Prof. Dr. Govind KC, an advocate of medical education reform, has demanded a judicial review of the apex court’s order.
KC, who has been claiming that the recent order of the joint bench of the Supreme Court to grant affiliation to B&C Medical College is flawed, has said that it needs to be reviewed.
Dr. KC has threatened to begin hunger strike again if there is no review against the order given by the Supreme Court.
B&C had taken the letter of intent from the Ministry of Education in 2064 BS (17 years back) and was working on the preparatory work for the operation of the medical college including infrastructure construction.
According to the same provisions of the Act, B&C submitted an application to the Commission in 2076 BS. But at that time, the commission refused to approve the affiliation, showing that the letter of intent was not renewed.
Prasai had been continuously demanding to address his grievances.
