Government of Nepal appointed Dr Kumud Kumar Kafle as dean of the Institute of Medicine (IoM) on Saturday night. The Vice-chancellor’s Office had dispatched a letter on Saturday night appointing Dr Kafle as the dean. He is due to retire on August 14. Still the posts of two assistant deans, campus chief and assistant campus chief are lying vacant for the last nine months at IoM.
After Dr KC started a fast-unto-death on Thursday, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on Saturday reportedly told Vice-chancellor Hira Bahadur Maharjan to appoint dean of the institute at the earliest.
Doctors on Saturday also met President Ram Baran Yadav and PM Bhattarai’s personal secretary Ganga Shrestha to resolve the row.
All academic studies in the hospital were suspended on Friday and National Resident Doctors Association decided not to attend to any patients after 8 pm on Saturday. Similarly, heads of all 22 departments of TUTH had jointly written to the acting director stating that they would be unable to work under the ongoing chaos in the hospital.
The appointment has failed to please the doctors. “We are yet to decide about the protest as the government appointed a person who has just a month to serve in office as the dean,” said a doctor, seeking anonymity. As we went to press, their meeting was under way.
