KATHMANDU: Senior physician and medical education reform activist Dr. Govinda KC has threatened to launch a new indefinite hunger strike if the government fails to address his three-point demands by July 21.

Issuing a press release on Friday, Dr. KC accused the government of working under the influence of private medical mafias and interest groups, rather than treating healthcare and medical education as non-profit, public services.

While he had previously postponed a planned strike after the government appointed a vice-chairperson to the Medical Education Commission on July 8, he warned that his suspended protests would resume.

He highlighted that even capitalist nations like the US run healthcare through non-profit trusts, whereas Nepal suffers from an overabundance of substandard private medical and nursing colleges, with regulatory bodies and universities increasingly dominated by representatives of interest groups.