Kathmandu, April 24: Medical doctors in protest have attempted to encircle the Ministry of Health today alleging that their labor is being exploited by not paying the minimum wage as prescribed by the government.

The medical doctors attempted to surround the Health Ministry today saying that the decision to provide services to resident doctors was made by the Council of Ministers but was not implemented. The police stopped the protesting doctors who were trying to march from Maitighar to the Ministry of Health with a demonstration. There was a brief scuffle between the police and the protesting doctors.

They demanded that the government take initiatives to implement the eighth-level salary structure set by the Medical Commission for the doctors doing the higher education courses. Nepal Medical Association President Dr. Anil Bikram Karki said that when they tried to go to the Health Ministry with their demands, police were deployed to stop them. He said that he was trying to draw attention to the decision to provide resident doctors with services equivalent to the government's eighth level, as the Health Minister had also signed that.

The Doctors’ Association has warned to halt all healthcare services, except emergency and intensive care services from April 25 if their demands are not fulfilled.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has instructed the private sector medical institutions to provide the salaries to the residential doctors as agreed before, otherwise, the government would stop facilities provided to them.

People’s News Monitoring Service.