By Our Reporter
The youth associated with Enough is Enough campaign have called off their hunger strike after inking an agreement with the officials of the Health Ministry.
With the inking of the agreement ‘, I’, the leader of the campaign, and two others Samira Shrestha and Karan Gurung broke their fast-unto-death on the 23rd days on Sunday.
They were staging the hunger strike at Basantapur demanding a better COVID-19 response from the government and were taken to hospital due to his deteriorating health.
The agreement signed after several rounds of negotiations between the two parties on Friday and Saturday.
The agreement includes increasing the real-time polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR) and testing for antigens, a new Covid-19 test that detects certain proteins that are part of the virus; increasing qualified personnel and equipment to expand testing; consulting with public health experts in decision-making processes; establishing hotlines for health workers and essential workers to request for protective gear, and ensuring dignified funerals for those people who have died of the virus.
The government has also agreed to make public the pandemic expenses.
Earlier, on July 7, the campaigner had ended a similar hunger strike after the government agreed to discontinue rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) and increase PCR tests to detect coronavirus infections on both symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers; expand contact tracing; ensure dignity and safety for health workers and essential workers, and improve quarantine facilities across the country. They had ended the earlier strike after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli visited them assured to address their demands. Yet the health ministry officials could not satisfy them, prompting them to stage another hunger strike.
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