One year on, legacy of Dr Govinda K C survives at TUTH

(Recent posts on the issue:

पानी धमिल्याउने कोशिस गर्दै डा शशि शर्मा

Host of bodies at TUTH come formally in solidarity of Dr. Govinda K C

डा गोविन्द के सी को आमरण अनशनः भ्रम र यथार्थ

'IOM an institute, not prostitute'; Dr Govinda K C declares war against the corrupt TU officials and their political patrons

भविष्य कसाइको हातमा कि डाक्टरको?

शिक्षण अस्पताल, राजनीति र अपराध

IOM affiliation fiasco: test of credibility and integrity for Lokman Singh Karki

खराब डाक्टर निर्माणको कथा)

 

Recapitulating the developments in TUTH over past year in relation to the two fasts by Dr. Govinda K C, I realize that the fight to ensure better accountability in the institution has not been an easy one. And if it were not for the daring challenge by Dr K C, the status quoits would have won the fight long back. An overview:

Last year this day, Dr. Govinda K C started his first fast-onto-death. The CA had just collapsed after monumental failure to draft constitution in the country and TUTH also appeared to be at the brink, ready to sink at any time.

It was a not-exactly-bright summer day, just like today when he gave his justification for the fast and ventured into the uncharted territory. The number of people in the institution siding with him in his drive against institutionalization of corruption was impressive. The TUTH seminar hall soon became the rallying point for all those who wanted transparency and better accountability in the institution.

Looking back after one year, Dr K C has been by and large successful in the mission. But that has not come at a small price. The hidden aspects of the saga were far more decisive than the apparent ones in determining the outcome. Here I will scrutinize three crucial moments over the past year when Dr. K C's unwavering instance saved the institution from outright plunder.


Moment one: first fast onto death

During the first fast, Baburam Bhattarai had been a thoroughly discredited leader after letting the CA collapse during his term as PM and still sticking to the post. He was largely powerless and more so in the face of TU officials all of whom had got the posts for their political affiliations. In particular the Jhalanath-appointed VC Hira Bahadur Maharjan appeared ready to go to any length to ensure that the plunder continued in the institution and his part of the cut kept flowing to him. The vested interests were so intense that not even the Chancellor of the university, the PM, could do anything.

Dr. K C during the first fast onto death

As a result, the fast stretched for four long days. There was a widespread hue and cry, national media also covered the developments well. Finally, the TU officials had to relent and they appointed a senior Pharmacology professor Dr. KK Kafle as TUTH Dean apparently in the basis of seniority as demanded by Dr. K C. For the time being, the crisis was over.


Moment two: the second fast onto death

Barely a month had passed and the new Dean retired. In the meantime, the TU officials had been applying all their might to restore the old system of patronage and plunder. They neither made the appointments in junior posts in the institution as recommended by Dr Kafle nor showed any willingness to appoint new Dean on the basis of merit or seniority.

Within six weeks of first fast, the situation became what it had been before: TU officials were again scrambling to get their party's man to the post of Dean at TUTH. The promise of seniority-based appointment had been duly abandoned.

Thus Dr. K C was forced to his second fast onto death on a rather disappointing and frustrating environment in the institution, barely a month and half from first fast. This time, the sycophants of politicians in the hospital did everything to discredit him and went on to even stage a farcical relay fasting in the premises of the hospital.

At the end however, after Dr. K C had undergone a arduous 5-day long fasting, authorities were forced to yield to his demand and they appointed Dr. Prakash Sayami as Dean in seniority basis.


Moment three: the fast that was avoided

The crisis again came haunting the institution when Dr. Sayami was forced to resign by the TU authorities who were unwilling to mend their ways and scrambled to get their men (read the sycophants of politicians) in positions inside IOM and TUTH at any cost.

As the matter lingered for days and TU authorities drew a lot of negative publicity for forcing a seniority-based appointee to resign, nothing appeared to really change.

TUTH: A new era in sight with Dr. Bhagwan Koirala's return

To much relief of many people inside and outside TUTH, the TU and government officials have finally relented to the demands of Dr. Bhagawan Koirala enabling him to return to his job at TUTH, according to sources.

The best part of the return is that the mudslinging going on among interest groups in the institution will now remain a mean exercise among people in leisure and nothing more. With lingering uncertainty about the fate of the post of Executive Director, the vitriolic attacks against Dr. Koirala had a real chance of being taken seriously by many people.

Bhagawan Koirala during an interview, in 2012. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

While every word written in newspapers about the insincerity of the doctors in the institution may not be true, the allegations were not entirely baseless. Accordingly, while Dr. Koirala may not be the 'god' to the institution as depicted in many columns, he is akin to a good surgeon to a moribund patient.

It is a fact that the media caught attention of the developments in the institution from very early on when the cleansing drive of Dr. Koirala had just started. As the no. of newspaper cuttings pasted in notice boards praising him started to increase, people started to complain: here, see this person who makes journalists write all good things about himself.

When the majority of media reports favored Dr. Koirala in the wake of his resignation, his detractors were in the receiving end. But over past few days, their retaliatory pieces had made way to the 'Letter to editor' sections of some of the newspapers. And they were prompt to make magnified copies of those letters and paste them everywhere in the hospital giving an impression that a really ugly spat was going on in the institution.

HODs demand their pound of flesh at TUTH

All over the past year when the TUTH was agitated for end of political interference in the institution, the heads of departments (HODs) had played a crucial role. With revered Dr. Govinda K C at the lead, the respected senior doctors were solidly supporting the agenda.

But when Dr. Bhagawan Koirala was appointed the executive director of the hospital, the sweet story suddenly turned sour. Most HODs were highly reluctant even to adjust to the new reality, let alone welcoming the energetic new administrator.

By now the disdain and even hostility of many of the senior faculties at hospital towards Dr. Koirala is no longer a secret and the public mudslinging on the issue has only subsided with media's preoccupation with new government.

In a clandestine new move, some twelve HODs from the hospital are understood to have (secretly) petitioned the TU officials to accept the resignation of Dr. Bhagawan Koirala at a time when the public is fiercely demanding an immediate reinstatement of Dr. Koirala to the post. In an embarrassing move, some of them are understood to have earlier signed a petition/demand letter demanding reinstatement of Dr. Koirala to the post.

While the political preoccupations of the faculties against Dr. Koirala are understandable, there seems to have occurred a deeply troubling failure of judgment in the fact that they have chosen to altogether ignore that Dr. Koirala was not appointed because of his political affiliations nor were his actions directed by political motive. He cannot just indulge in corrupt activities like most of his predecessors and his moves to improve the health care delivery of the hospital cannot avoid infringing on the privileges that most of the doctors had been enjoying for years to decades. And definitely he cannot be penalized for this at a moment when the institution so direly needs his contribution.

TUTH: Peeking into the doom ahead

What does Dr. Koirala's resignation mean? Well, it means many things to many people. But most are utterly disappointed. An overview of evolving scenario at TUTH: 

It was not business as usual in TUTH today. As the yesterday's rumors about resignation of Dr. Bhagawan Koirala evolved into truth, nearly everyone was somehow relating the resignation to the future of the institution and most importantly, himself/herself.

Beside all the welcome changes brought to the institution, Koirala's deeds had promised something for most people associated with the institution. The fact that the hospital had started making profits after years of consistent loss-making notwithstanding, the over-all financial health of the institution was improving enabling it to pay the employees' salaries in time. Students and the junior faculties have their future intimately associated with that of the institution and they were more disappointed than the others. There was even signature campaign among faculties to demand for reinstatement of Dr. Koirala to the post, supposed to be sent to TU and PM office.

While the premature departure of Dr. Koirala from the administrative position of the hospital spells trouble for the institution, the bigger danger lurks ahead: this is likely to be interpreted as the failure of meritocracy in the institution promoted by current Dean Dr. Prakash Sayami. As things stand, the possibility of Dr. Koirala's successor being any different from his corruption-friendly predecessors is nearly nil.

Dr. Koirala has cited noncooperation by people ranging from PM Bhattarai to senior professors in the institution as the reason behind his resignation. In fact, his kind of road-map to revamp the institution is impossible without cooperation of those people. The problem is, his road-map, while rejuvenating the institution, is unlikely to promote the interest of the people ranging from the doctors providing surrogate service to the hospital to the TU officials and the PM himself.

The irony now is, the new appointee in the post of Executive director will come with solid knowledge that the difficulties for the institution pointed by Dr. Koirala are very much in place and with the implication that he is ready for the highly likely scenario of the institution being driven further into the morass by 1) condoning/promoting/indulging in corruption 2) witnessing the utter inefficacy in the service delivery by the institution 3) letting people to resume the plethora of unethical practices like smuggling the patient to the private hospitals and 4) letting the institution to relapse into loss-making that threatens to collapse the institution itself.

The flame of hope about to be doused at TUTH

After leaving a lasting legacy at TUTH in a tenure that lasted for a few months, Dr. Bhagawan Koirala has finally relented to the odds stacked against him in the institution, according to sources.

There is no official information on when exactly he resigned and whether the resignation was accepted but his days as Executive Director of TUTH seem to be numbered.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Koirala's resignation is likely to start a chain of events undoing nearly all of the accomplishments made so far towards reforming the institution.

Even though most media reports related to TUTH have been praising the work of Dr. Koirala, I had posted an article in February 6 titled 'TUTH: Past crimes come to haunt the present' outlining the unassailable odds that were likely to hinder Dr. Koirala's performance. And at the center of them were the swindles of the past administrations. 

TUTH: Past crimes come to haunt the present

Ordinarily, one who is guilty gets punished. But in our extraordinary situation, one is penalized for crimes of somebody else. Evolving scenario at TUTH: 

At first, it seems TUTH is in right direction after all the ups and downs over the past year.

But some deep problems still threaten to derail the progress that has been achieved so far.

As extensively covered in this blog, some inescapable circumstances had forced the TU authorities and their patrons in political parties to appoint the current team at IOM and TUTH. And the momentum of progress so far has been laudable. The legacy of the institution as one of the most lucrative destinations for the corrupt nexus, however, refuses to die.

It is understood that the swindles made in the past were both mammoth and diverse. The most crippling of these have proved to be the instances in which equipments or other materials were purchased while the payment for them was deferred. As the suppliers of those materials come for payment (reportedly in very large amounts), the current hospital administration is apparently under immense pressure.

The fact that the hospital has reportedly gone into profit after years of consistent loss speaks for itself how badly financial mismanagement had impacted the institution. The core of the problem is, however, that the shrewd politicians have literally dismantled the anti-graft bodies like CIAA in an strategic attempt to shield their financial crimes from law.

शिक्षण अस्पतालः उज्यालो तिर?

The trio behind the change: Dr Govinda K C, the ascetic, Dr. Prakash Sayami, the incorruptible and Dr. Bhagawan Koirala, the efficient

पृष्ठभुमिः

नेपालको विडम्वना के छ भने, सरकारी सेवा प्रदायक संस्थाहरु सेवा प्रवाह गर्ने भन्दा पनि त्यहाँका जागिरेहरुको हित गर्नमा उद्यत छन् भने त्यस्ता निजी संस्थाहरुचाहिं व्यवसायका अरु पक्ष बिसेंर विशुद्ध तात्कालिक नाफामा केन्द्रित छन् । परिणाम स्वरुप आम मानिसले न सरकारी संस्थाहरुबाट यथोचित सेवा पाउँछन् न त निजीको खर्च नै व्यहोर्न सक्छन् ।

खासगरी शिक्षा र स्वास्थ्यको क्षेत्रमा यो समस्याबाट मानिसहरु नराम्रोसँग प्रताडित छन् । अझ देशको तरल राजनीतिक अवस्थाबीच बचेखुचेका सरकारी वा सार्वजनिक सम्पत्तिको छिनाझप्टीमा लागेका राजनीतिक दलहरुका गतिविधिले एकातिर सरकारी संस्थाहरुलाई ध्वस्त बनाउँदैछन् भने अर्कोतिर निजी संस्थाहरुसित आर्थिक र अन्य साँठगाँठ गरेर तिनको उचित अनुगमन र नियमन नहुने अवस्था सिर्जना गरेर आम मानिसको स्वास्थ्यजस्ता संवेदनशील पक्षसित खेलबाड गरिरहेका छन् ।

यही पृष्ठभुमिमा त्रि वि शिक्षण अस्पतालमा लामो समय चलेको आन्दोलनले के परिवर्तन ल्यायो वा ल्याएन भन्नेबारे यो आलेखमा छोटो चर्चा हुनेछ ।


शिक्षण अस्पतालको आन्दोलन सर्सरी हेर्दा

यो ब्लगमा हालसम्म सबैभन्दा धेरै चोटि पढिएको शिक्षण अस्पतालमा आन्दोलनःकिन? शीर्षकको लेखको एउटा अनुच्छेद यस्तो थियोः


अहिलेको आन्दोलनले समग्र समस्याहरुलाई स्वाट्टै बढारेर लैजानेछ भन्ने कसैको अपेक्षा पनि हैन । तर आन्दोलनको प्रमुख माग पुरा भएर अहिले झैं राजनीतिक भागबण्डाको चोरबाटोबाट नभएर जिम्मेवार मानिसहरु योग्यता र वरिष्ठताको आधारमा आउने हो र कुर्सीमा बस्नासाथ मालिकहरुलाई कति कति करोड भनेर दिमाग खियाउनु पर्ने अवस्था नहुने हो भने कुनै व्यक्ति आए पनि अस्पताल यो स्तरको लथालिंग र भताभुंगको अवस्थाबाट बाहिर आउन सक्छ ।


तर इमान्दार भएर भन्नुपर्दा आफैंले यो भाव प्रकट गर्नुको कारण ममा यो संस्थामा वास्तविक सुधार सम्भव छ भन्ने विश्वास भएर भन्दा पनि त्यसखालको सुधार हुनुपर्छ भन्ने मुद्दालाई बल पुगोस् भन्ने थियो । हुन पनि देशमा चारैतिर अव्यवस्था, भद्रगोल र मनपरीतन्त्र भएको बेला खाली एउटा संस्थामा सुधारको प्रयास सफल हुने सम्भावना झिनो थियो ।


 तर लगत्तै आदरणीय गुरु डा गोविन्द के सी अनशन बसेपछि भने परिस्थिति धेरै बदलियो र संस्था सुधारको विशुद्ध अभियानमा लाग्ने भन्दा पनि संस्थासँग आफ्नो भविष्य जोडिएकाले यो संस्था धराशायी नभइहालोस् भन्ने धेरै मानिसहरु आन्दोलनसित जोडिने अवस्था आयो । अनशन लम्बिंदै जाँदा नैतिकता र पेशागत निष्ठा बेचेर राजनीतिज्ञहरुसित पद किनेका त्रि वि का पदाधिकारीहरुको छलछाम र धोखाधडीले स्थितिलाई जटिल त बनायो नै निकास पनि टालटुले पाराले दियो र डेढ महिनामै समस्या बल्झेर डा के सी फेरि अनशन बस्नुपर्ने अप्रिय अवस्था आयो ।

दोस्रो अनशन ताका एमाले भन्ने दलको खल्तीमा बन्द त्रि वि का उपकुलपतिको झन् तल्लो स्तरको जालझेल र शिक्षण अस्पताल परिसरमा सो दलका भरौटेहरुको प्रति–अनशनको चर्तिकलाले डा के सीको छवि धमिल्याउने र समग्र आन्दोलनलाई नै बिथोल्ने चेष्टा गरेपछि त माहोल ज्यादै गम्भीर बन्न पुगेको थियो । त्यसको पनि केही महिनासम्म नवनियुक्त डिन डा प्रकाश सायमीलाई काम गर्न नदिइ राजीनामा दिन बाध्य बनाएपछि त समग्र आन्दोलनका उपलब्धिहरु गुमिसकेको आभास सबैलाई भएको थियो ।


ताजा अवस्था

एक व्यक्तिको प्रयासले मात्र संस्था बन्ने हैन । तर जिम्मेवार तहका मानिसले यथोचित प्रयास गर्ने हो भने अरु मानिसहरु पनि त्यस्तो प्रयास गर्न बाध्य हुन्छन् र संस्था स्वतः बन्ने प्रक्रियामा जान्छ भन्ने उदाहरण अहिले शिक्षण अस्पताल बनेको छ । पदाधिकारहिरुका मालिक नेताहरुका धेरैभन्दा धेरै मानिसलाई भर्ती गरेर दिनभर हाइ काढेर घाम ताप्दै गर्ने पदहरु सिर्जना गरेर साविकभन्दा बढी तलब खुवाउने ठाउँका रुपमा चिनिएको शिक्षण अस्पताल डा प्रकाश सायमीको सक्रिय कार्यकाल शुरु भएसँगै र खास गरी डा भगवान कोइरालाको कार्यकारी निर्देशकमा नियुक्तिपछि एकाएक बदलिएको छ ।