Doctor on fast forcibly airlifted, his supporters thrashed in Nepal

A noted orthopedic surgeon and professor, Dr KC went on fast, mobilising huge public support, demanding that universities should stop giving affiliations to private medical colleges in Kathmandu. His other demands were that each region should have one medical college, in which reasonable fees and scholarships to the poor were guaranteed.

His fast has triggered a political storm, with the opposition Nepali Congress resolving to obstruct Parliament and state legislature business until the government addressed his demands. Nepali Congress and civil society groups took out protest rallies in the capital as police were rampaging the venue of Dr KC’s fast.

Dr KC began his fast after the government introduced a Bill on medical education in Parliament, which, according to him, went against the spirit of previous negotiations and understandings reached with him.

“I will not talk to the government unless it withdraws the Bill,” he said before being forcibly airlifted from Jumla.