Home Minister asks Maoists to reciprocate for negotiation

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Nov. 30: Home Minister Dharma Bahadur Thapa has strongly denied any possibility of direct talks between the monarch and the Maoists.

Speaking at the Face to Face programme today, Minister Thapa said that he did not see any possibility of talks with the constitutional monarch by avoiding the government.

He said that the process for peace talks is still in priliminary stage, and the Maoists have not come forward with their agenda.

He said the government has opened the doors for peace talks but the Maoists have not responded to the government's offer. Minister Thapa added that until and unless the government receives authentic proposal from the Maoists, the government cannot declare its agenda for the talks.

The government would make its vision clear considering the need of hours and 'the dialogue would be on the basis of give-and-take strategy'.

"If the Maoists are political force, they should prove it by stopping their terrorists and distruptive activities," he said. He called those involved in violence to come forward for talks and peaceful resolution of the problem.

On whether there would be any mediator, Thapa said that the government have not yet received any proposal in this regard.

He also informed that the government had not thought about constituent assembly or the demand of round table conference. It may be reminded that the Maoists have been raising the issue of a round table conference and an all-party government to resolve the existing crisis.

"As we have identified the Maoists problem as a national problem, why do the political parties differ in this regard?" he asked. Commenting on the expressions of the leaders of the political parties, Thapa said that they have been making the situation more confused because of their ideological deviations. The leaders of the political parties should not spread rumors and propaganda against the monarchy and the government, he said, adding they should instead work to resolve the problem. "No one will benefit by dragging the monarchy into controversy or by trying to mislead the people about the Royal institution,"he pointed out.

"While the nation is seeking cooperation of the political parties and the individual to find a way out of the current crisis, no one should play a negative role to worsen the situation," he said.

However, Minister Thapa declined to reveal the government's policies regarding security, saying that the government was functioning smoothly within the mandate given by the Royal address. He said the government was serious to hold the election as soon as possible. "The government has been working to provide law and order to the people in its own way," he replied.

He blamed the previous governments for the frailty of the administrative sector by politicising the bureaucracy.

He said the three-phase talks between the government and the Maoists failed because the then government of Sher Bahadur Deuba failed to put forth its agenda clearly. "The present government will not make such a blunder," he emphasised.

Awareness building against HIV/AIDS main task: Devkota

RSS

KATHMANDU, Dec. 1: The World AIDS Day is being observed in Nepal also with the theme, "Live and let live" by organising various awareness-raising programmes.

The theme has been adopted this year as per the resolve of the United Nations General Assembly held in 2001 to eliminate the neglect of and discrimination against the HIV/AIDS patients with top priority with the objective of protecting and promoting the human rights of the persons infected and affected with this dreaded disease.

Various programmes against HIV/AIDS will be held in Nepal also from today to mark the commencement of the campaign.

In his message on the occasion, Minister for Health Dr. Upendra Devkota said that as AIDS is contracted through unsafe sex, unsterilised hypodermic needle, syringe and untested blood, patients suffering from it should not be ostracised.

Health Minister Dr. Devkota has said that the ignorance prevailing in the society, wrong notion on the medium of spread of the disease, prejudice to link it with bad habits, its incurability, unaccountable behaviour of the mass media on the mode of its spread and the social norms on sex and sexuality, illness for a long time and the spectre of death have helped in increasing negligence and discrimination.

In the message, he has pointed out the need of commitment on the part of all concerned to lay emphasis on education to raise awareness among the masses against HIV/AIDS in accordance with the recently introduced HIV/AIDS strategy (2002-06), formulating suitable policy and legal provisions for the protection of the rights of the the persons infected and affected with it and making the governmental agencies, institutions, organisations and offices and persons providing employment to make accountable towards the rights of the patients.

In a message on the occasion, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said stigma and discrimination are the major obstacles to effective HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and the focus on the world aids campaign on stigma and discrimination represents an effort to place human rights at the forefront of global advocacy efforts.

"We have to bring about changes in our behaviour, communities and laws to fight the epidemic and we must step up efforts to eliminate discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS, and adopt and enforce legislation to protect human rights", reads the message.

Regional Director of the World Health Organisation, WHO, Dr Uton Muchtar Rafei has called upon one and all to work together and establish a socially enabling environment and create mechanisms to address stigma and discrimination arising out of HIV/AIDS.

In Nepal, the recorded number of HIV positive as of October 31, 2002 is 2,525 including 1,837 male and 687 female. Some 620 of them have already developed AIDS, says the national centre for AIDS and STD control.

According to the centre the epidemic has so far led to 153 deaths in the country.

The highest number of people infected with HIV include clients of sex workers, followed by the sex workers themselves, the injecting drug users and housewives.

Eighteen people acquired hiv virus in october of which one had already developed AIDS, adds the centre.

The global figure on the epidemic presented by WHO/UNAIDS says that some 40 million people were living with hiv at the end of 2001 including five million newly infected in the same year.

Some three million people including 1.3 million men, 1.1 million women and 580,000 children died of AIDS in 2001.

A majority of HIV infection or 70 per cent world-wide occurs through unsafe sex between men and women.

The WHO/UNAIDS also estimated that world-wide about 63 million men, women and children have been infected with hiv and 21.8 million people have died of AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic.

Medical course, corpse and constraints

By Indra Adhikari

KATHMANDU, Nov. 30: The 11 medical colleges in the country need of more than 100 dead bodies every year. The bodies are needed in their study of basic science in the first and the second year.
Apart from the Institute of Medicine under Tribhuvan University, all the other colleges are private colleges with at least 100 students, and they need at least one body for every 10 students.

There were several difficulties in getting corpses in the past. The religious and cultural barrier, where the deads are compulsorily cremated made it difficult to find bodies for medical studies.

Unidentified and unclaimed corpses are permitted for medical use in Nepal. The Police Act 2012 has provisions that any unclaimed body could be given to the medical colleges for medical studies although there were no medical colleges at that time.

With the establishment of the medical college, the Institute of Medicine under Tribhuvan University, in 1984, the unclaimed corpses were given to it. When several medical colleges were established after 1994, the demand for corpses increased. But there has been no much difficulty in finding bodies for the studies.

"The act has made it easier in getting the corpses for medical studies," said principal of the Kathmandu Medical College Hemang Dixit.

There has been a change in the attitude of the people. "The number of people handing over the dead bodies of their relatives to the medical colleges has been increasing," said Dixit.

But such number is too small to meet the demand and the colleges still have to depend on unclaimed bodies.

With the demands growing, the process of the medical colleges receiving bodies has also been simplified. Earlier, the medical colleges have to write to the Home Ministry, which would refer to the police, which in turn would write to the Institute of Medicine before the bodies are supplied to them.
Now, the bodies are supplied directly to the colleges. The Institute of Medicine under Tribhuvan University supplies bodies to the private medical colleges in the central region. The responsibility for the western region has been given to Manipal College of Medical Sciences in Pokhara and in the eastern region it is the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences.

Dadi Ram Karki, an official at the anatomy department of the Nepal Medical College, said the bodies should not be deformed or with major injuries. "Such bodies are not suitable for studies," says Karki.
Officials at the IOM source said that the number of corpses made available to the Institute differs each year, but they have been able to meet the demand of the private colleges and the IOM itself. Students at the NMC say that they have faced no shortage of the dead bodies.

The Nepal Medical College and Kathmandu Medical College say they pay Rs. 25,000 for one dead body. According to Dhurba Bahadur Basnyat, chief administrator of the Nepal Medical College the college bought six corpses last year and they had four bodies of the previous year.

The dead bodies are used for the study of anatomy, surgery practices, physiology, and for forensic and other studies. The corpses should be kept in ice for 35 days after postmortem before they are used for medical studies.

A dead body can be preserved up to two to three years before it can be used for studies.

The same body is used for the study of different parts at different times. Once the study of soft tissues is finished, the skeleton is taken out and used for anatomical studies. To take out the skeleton, a dead body should be kept in ice for more than six months. This makes all the soft tissues to drop off, and the bones remain. The bones are, then, taken out and kept in the museum for skeletal study.

An official at the IOM said Nepal had imported two dead bodies from India for medical studies in 1979. Since then Nepal has not imported any dead body.

MoU signed to promote trade, investment

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Nov 30: With the objective of promoting trade ties between Nepal and China, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) today singed an memorandum of understanding (MoU).
Acting president of the FNCCI Binod Shrestha and vice presidnet of CCPIT, Liu Wenjie signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisaitons.

According MoU, both the organisations would enocurage their respective members to take initiation for the promotion of trade and investment said the FNCCI press release.

Addressing the programme, Shrestha stressed the need for the expansion of bilateral trade relations between the two nations.

Explaining the competitive strength of China in relation to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), second vice president of the federation Rajendra Kumar Khetan said that the cheap labour in Nepal should be utilised in producing goods.

Khetan noted that joint efforts could explore adequte potentials to strengthen economy.

On the occasion Liu Wenjie vice president of the CCPIT said that he would take initiative to promote Chinese investment in Nepal.

Meanwhile, Liu Wenjue met with Padma Jyoti, president of the SAARC Chamer of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and shared views about expansion of trade ties between two countries.

Priority to foreign employment: Chaulagain

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 30: Minister for Labour and Transport Management and Population and Environment Kamal Prasad Chaulagain has said that the government has given top priority to foreign employment service which has been supporting the national economy by helping maintain a constant flow into the foreign exchange reserves.

He made this remark while addressing a reception programme organised in his honour by the Nepal Joint Foreign Employment Association here today.

On the occasion, Minister for Labour Chaulagain pointed out the need for expanding the foreign employment business at a time when the tourism, garment and carpet industries have been hit by recession and the youths have been deviated toward the path of violence due to lack of employment.
He said if need be uniform standards would be fixed through policy reforms for promoting foreign employment.

Association president Bharat Singh Thapa underlined the need for diplomatic initiatives for appointment of labour attaches in countries where Nepalese labourers have gone for foreign employment, and establishment of a labour desk at the immigration section at the airport.
Secretary at the Ministry of Labour Prem Nidhi Gyawali said that necessary reforms were being made in the foreign employment acts and regulations in order to address shortcomings in the foreign employment sector.

He expressed the view that initiatives should be taken to open up foreign employment opportunities in other countries like Japan and Germany.

Association's former presidents Mahendra Sherchan, Prem Bahadur Gurung, Nirmal Gurung, Dan Bahadur Tamang and others stressed the need for making foreign employment services dignified, and reliable, and to register it as service business.