KATHMANDU, On Tuesday morning, enough, a youth-led campaign, called off their hunger strike after a 12-point agreement with the Ministry of Health on Monday night. The movement, which started with protests on June 9th, has been underway in its attempt to bring pressure on the government to follow a better management strategy for the Covid-19 pandemic.
The first round of talks with the Ministry of Health on Thursday proved to be inconclusive, leading two demonstrators, Iih and Pukar Bam, to begin their hunger strike at the HAMS Hospital, where they were brought on the same day due to their deteriorating health.
More attempts to reach an amicable conclusion were made last week with several rounds of meetings on Friday, but the exercise proved futile.
"We don't want to succumb to pressure from the government until we get what we've been demanding all along," Nayantara Gurung Kakshapati, one of the campaign organizers, told the Post last week.
However, no further meetings were held between the parties until Monday. A campaign member told the Post that despite their attempts to communicate with the government, there was no response, despite Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli visiting the protesters at the hospital on Thursday and promising to address their demands.
"During his visit to the hospital, the prime minister asked the protesters to stop their hunger strike and promised to ensure that the campaign demands would be met," a campaign member told the Post on condition of anonymity. "However, despite being instructed by the Home Ministry to look at our demands, we have been constantly ignored."
The ministry and the protesters were finally able to reach an agreement on Monday night. The Government has agreed to the campaign's demands, such as putting people entering the country from abroad in mandatory quarantine for five days and enabling them to self-quarantine only after checking. According to the agreement, the guidelines for self-quarantines will be finalized within a week.
The Government has agreed to discontinue the use of rapid diagnostic tests and increase the testing of polymerase chain reactions to detect the presence of coronavirus on both symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers, including health care workers and essential workers, returning migrants and contacts of people tested positive for Covid-19, At the same time as ensuring the protection of dignity and the prevention of violence against them. The Government has also decided to make its expenditure on the pandemic public.
However, group leaders remain pessimistic about the deal being enforced.
"Despite the government signing several documents of agreement with Dr. Govinda KC to end his hunger strike, they have not been enforced," Bam, a protester, told the Post by phone at the HAMS Hospital. "We don't fully trust the government."
His statement was echoed by Iih, who thinks the government has been listening a little too late to their demands.
"If this agreement had been signed a month ago, there would have been a huge difference. Now things are getting worse and it will be difficult to implement this agreement, "he told the Post.
For the time being, the demonstrators have called off the hunger strike, but the movement is still underway to ensure the successful implementation of the agreement, protesters said. Iih warned of another hunger strike if the demands are not met within a week.
