Nepal’s famed teaching hospital BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) is rocked by constant protests since couple of weeks. Protesters are both from within and outside the BPKIHS.

Former Chair of Faculty Welfare Society and Deputy Coordinator of the Joint Struggle Committee, Dr. Bishnu Pokhrel, said relay hunger strike would be started from Monday. ”We will not affect the medication of patients. But, we will start relay hunger strike from Monday,” said Dr. Pokhrel. Pokhrel announced that all vehicles used by four major office-bearers would be denoted by writing ‘BPKIHS’. He stressed such a move would curb the misuse of vehicles by the BPKIHS officials. Joint Struggle Committee has snatched keys of the cars used by three office-bearers namely Rector Professor Dr. Guru Khanal, Registrar Professor Dr. Mohanchandra Regmi and Hospital Director Professor Dr. Gaurishankar Shah. Vice-Chancellor Dr. Gyanendra Giri’s car key was not snatched as he was in his Kathmandu tour, said protesters.

Faculties, students, staffs and nurses are in the protests since 12 days. They are demanding fair, transparent and vibrant administration of the BPKIHS. On the other hand, a civilian group is also in protest aginst BPKIHS administration. A group called Citizen Pressure Network chaired by Rajendra Sharma has released a warning letter asking to fix all anomalies, corruption and disorder at the biggest government-owned health facility in Province 1.

On 11 Asar (June 25) Citizen Pressure Network has given a three-day ultimatum to correct the anomalies and irregularities by holding dialogue. However, no headway is made towards their demands, says the network. When RSS asked for their response, all BPKIHS officials declined to comment on the issues.