Kathmandu, July 12: MBBS and BDS intern doctors staged a protest in Kathmandu on Saturday, demanding the immediate implementation of the government’s decision on internship stipends.
The demonstration, organised by the MBBS and BDS Intern Struggle Committee, was held at Maitighar.
The committee’s coordinator, Bikash Kumar Shah, said the protest was not driven by personal interests but by the need to ensure fair compensation for intern doctors, respect for their work, and a secure future for medical students.
He said the Ministry of Education had decided to raise the stipend for intern medical officers to 75 per cent. Although the ministry formed a study committee and approved the decision, it has yet to be implemented because the full meeting of the Medical Education Commission has not been convened.
Shah said the government’s failure to enforce a decision already approved by the ministry had left the interns with no option but to protest.
He urged the government to convene the commission’s full meeting at the earliest, endorse the stipend decision, and ensure its effective implementation. He added that the interns were ready to return to hospitals and resume patient care once their legitimate demands were addressed.
Shah also said the protest would continue until their rights were secured. He expressed dissatisfaction with the current leadership of the Nepal Medical Association, accusing it of failing to effectively advocate for the concerns of medical students and intern doctors.
Protesters carried placards reading, “Stop Testing Our Patience, Implement the Report,” and “End Discrimination Against Interns”.
They warned that the movement would continue unless the government, the Medical Education Commission, and other concerned authorities immediately implemented the decision on intern stipends.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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