Dr. Govinda KC: an obdurate dissident or a revolutionary hero?

With Dr. Govinda KC’s hunger strike reached the sixteenth day today, vexation is mounting all over the country. Resident doctors have warned to call it quits by Friday if the government did not listen to KC’s demand; social media is flooded with the sharp debate and opinion of his admirers and detractors. Some see him as an obdurate dissident who tries to trample on the laws and the norms of a governmental institution; many others hail him as a revolutionary hero, an anti-corruption meliorist, a staunch defender of The National Medical Education Bill.

For the first time, I saw Dr. KC in the Dishanirdhesh show hosted by Vijay Kumar several years ago. Dressed in incongruous white shirt and pant, taciturn by nature, I portrayed him as a reticent orthopedic surgeon who lives a nonconformist lifestyle and shows diffidence on many aspects of life; but on the central question of the reformation in the health sector, he was very adamant. By the time, no one had thought that this thin, bald-headed old man would someday lead the longest civil disobedience movement in the history of this nation.

Photo: 'The Kathmandu Post'

Since then, time and again, I cerebrate on my own-why this well paid consummate professor with no family to feed, choose to take the burden of the whole world on his shoulder and punish his own entrails, and quiver, listening to the disorder of the veins?

It is not true that all felt in the same way; KC’s hunger strike has faced many trials and tribulations over the period of time. Some would raise questions about the veracity of his demand and doubt whether he is being manipulated while others would quibble over his propriety while addressing the politician and panjandrum. Few others, who once supported Dr. KC for his movement, would leave him as the flames of his movement, in their own words “lost the spirit of the cause”; the advantage of which would be taken by the other side to belittle his crusade.

The episode doesn’t end here. Vigilante would be sent on the hunger strike spot to check whether he gobbled up secretly; the government would wait patiently till he became unconscious or showed major life-threatening symptoms. After weeks of apathy and ignorance, if the movement did not lose its luster, the committee would be formed to discuss the subject. But no matter how lackadaisical and wanting the movement looks in its earlier days, what has never diminished is the enthusiasm of the common people and the support of the media, civil society members and medical professionals, though it also takes time to muster up.

Has anything changed?

KC’s movement has brought forth the uncomfortable truth and series of grave real issues to a broader audience, who were oblivious to the situation. The official wrongdoings, malpractices and corruption in the medical sector and the political leader’s penchant for investment in teaching hospitals have been exposed all at once. His years-long battle for the structural reformation of medical science education has changed the nation’s perspective of viewing educational institutions; it has shown the image of our broken political system.

For those who use power and political ties to gain professional office, this whistle-blower has been a pain in the neck but for those who believe in equity and fairness, particularly in a nation like ours, where the foundation of every institution has been shattered by naked partisan politics and personal interest, KC is a beacon of hope; a symbol of principled resistance.

A long way to go...

The road map of medical education in Nepal established by this movement is one of the greatest and unquestionable achievements that the country will remember and cherish, though, its complete and timely implementation, with so many hurdles and forces in the vicinity, would be a delicate task.

The merit-based student admission process has been enforced completely; the issue of transparency on admission fees is already on its way, though the effective implementation of this rule is plagued by different problems and should be constrained further by the law. The dream of Dr. KC to make private teaching hospitals a non-profit organization amid the avarice and greed of these powerful and well-connected businessmen seems like a dream that would never be fulfilled, at least not in his lifetime.

Am I with Dr. KC?

As the health of Dr. KC continues to deteriorate despite intensive treatment and care, the hashtag IamWithDrKC is rapidly trending on twitter. A Twitter tirade has been launched accusing the government of being indifferent to the demands of Dr. KC and adopting a devious way to pass the medical bill. The tweeter feed is inundated with the question of whether the government genuinely wants to resolve this chronic problem or it will waver and prevaricate as like before.

But there are nigglers as well who are denigrating the KC’s movement. As I was scrolling idly through the endless feed, my eyes were arrested by the callous tweet of one NCP leader, “Perhaps, there is no need to worry about the health of Dr. KC. Himself being a doctor, he is surrounded by the team of doctors; it is not necessary that one should take dal-bhat.”

“A person does not want to feed himself to make others fulfill his demands. Why should I support Dr. KC?”, tweeted another man.

As dusk deepened into the dark, numb and exhausted by long day work, I tried to sleep lying on my bed but the question tickles on the back of my mind— and my own thought questioned myself: “Why are you supporting Dr. KC?”

My split psyche slowly whispered; because you have seen people dying due to financial stringency; because you have seen your leaders flying abroad for the minor health checkup; because you have seen your dear ones fraught with anxiety as they were bankrupted while paying hospital bills; because you have seen your friends giving up their dreams since they could not afford it—and, perhaps, because you know twitter tirade and debate on medical bills can go on but same is not true about the life of dying man, who has done so much for the cause.

twitter: @Dhakal91Ramesh