Dr Govinda KC's two-week long fast-unto-death, his sixth, ended on Sunday following an 11-point agreement with the government. Unlike in the past, it will be hard for the government to go back on its commitments to Dr KC this time since there are clear, time-bound obligations. The next Cabinet meeting will, for instance, give birth to a new 'Medical Education Commission' to facilitate policy-making on medical education. Likewise, the government has committed to a new medical education policy in line with the recommendations of the Mathema Committee Report; the relevant bill will be tabled in the parliament within the next three months. The 11-point agreement heralds a new dawn for medical education in Nepal. There will in the future be more free scholarship seats for graduate and post-graduate programs and new doctors will be obliged to serve in remote parts of the country for at least two years. Post-graduate education at government-run medical colleges will be free. No new medical and dental colleges, according to the agreement, will be permitted inside Kathmandu Valley, which is already saturated with medical establishments. Also, the number of MBBS seats will be capped at 100 for each medical college to ensure that the manpower they produce is competent.That is not all. The government will construct new medical colleges in remote areas and eventually bring the ratio of number of government medical college to the number of private colleges to 1:3, from the current 1:5. If the reforms suggested by Mathema committee can really be enacted, as seems likely now, a single person would have effectively brought the medical mafia to its knees. Right now there are violent protests taking place across the country. Many people have been killed; the daily lives of millions of Nepalis have been badly disrupted. Even so, there seems to be no political solutions in sight. Of course, in a democracy, people have the right to peaceful protests. But no one has the right to try to impose certain beliefs and ideologies through the use of force. (Nor, for that matter, should the state use disproportionate force against its own people.) Dr KC has shown that if you have high moral standing and you are committed to positive social change you can force the state to heed to you without ever uttering a word in anger, much less take up arms.
Our leaders from across the political spectrum could take a leaf out of Dr KC's book. The reason Nepali people have so little faith in their political leaders is because most of them have proven to be incapable of rising above their petty interests and of actually thinking about the country and the people. On the other hand, Dr KC, even though he has no political background, epitomises the perfect political leader: someone who can, like Gandhi, bring about drastic social changes purely on the strength of his moral character. We need more Govinda KCs in our politics. Again, only when we have leaders who are ready to put national interests above self interest will the country have a safe landing.
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