Kathmandu - Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) lawmaker Tosima Karki has expressed serious concern that Dr Govinda KC, a prominent campaigner for reforms in medical education and the health sector, has had to stage hunger strikes twice within the past six months, calling the situation regrettable and a poor signal for the government. In a statement shared on social media, Karki, who previously served as Minister of State for Health, said the development does not send a good message and urged the government to hold immediate talks with Dr KC.

"Not a Good Message": What Karki Said

Karki's comments came in a statement she posted on social media, in which she reacted to news that Dr KC has once again resorted to the form of protest he is most closely associated with: refusing food in pursuit of the reforms he has long demanded. Her focus was not only on the protest itself but on the fact that it is the second such fast within six months, a frequency she found deeply troubling.

"The situation does not send a good message," she said, describing it as regrettable.

Her statement, as reported by Nagarik News and News of Nepal, can be summed up as follows:

  • Dr KC, a campaigner for reforms in medical education and the health sector, has staged hunger strikes twice within the past six months.
  • Karki described the situation as regrettable and said it does not send a good message.
  • She urged the government to hold immediate talks with Dr KC.
  • Karki speaks from experience, having served as Minister of State for Health before becoming an RSP lawmaker.

A Voice From Within the Health Establishment

What lends Karki's intervention particular weight is her own history in Nepal's health administration. Before taking her seat in parliament, she served as Minister of State for Health, a role that placed her inside the ministry responsible for the very policy areas at the heart of Dr KC's campaigns: medical education and the broader health sector.

That background matters for two reasons. First, it means her concern is not that of a distant observer; she has seen from within how the government engages with reform pressures in health. Second, it makes her appeal for immediate talks more than a routine expression of sympathy. When a former minister of state for the health portfolio says the situation is regrettable and calls for urgent negotiation, the message to the current government is that the matter should not be treated as routine.

Two Fasts in Six Months: Why Frequency Matters

The fact at the center of Karki's concern is simple but striking: within a span of just six months, Dr KC has felt compelled twice to give up food in pursuit of the reforms he champions.

In her assessment, the repetition is what makes the situation alarming rather than merely unfortunate. A single hunger strike can be read as an exceptional act by a determined campaigner; a second fast within months points to a pattern in which the underlying grievances resurface because they were never fully resolved. That, in her words, is what does not send a good message: to the public, it signals that the concerns of a seasoned reform activist are still not being settled through ordinary institutional channels.

There is also a human dimension that her statement implicitly underscores. Hunger strikes, by their nature, expose the protester to serious health risks, and a second fast within such a short period naturally heightens anxiety about the cumulative strain on Dr KC's wellbeing. It is precisely this urgency that shapes Karki's call: the longer formal talks are delayed, the greater the risk that the standoff hardens rather than resolves.

The Appeal for Immediate Talks

At its core, Karki's statement amounts to a direct appeal to the government: sit down with Dr KC without delay. She has urged that talks begin immediately, both to engage substantively with the reform agenda he represents and to prevent the kind of outcome that, in her framing, would confirm the poor message she believes the situation already sends.

Her intervention also broadens the conversation beyond Dr KC's immediate circle of supporters. With concern now being voiced from within the federal parliament by a lawmaker who has held responsibility for the health portfolio, pressure is building on the government to demonstrate that it can address grievances in medical education and the health sector through dialogue rather than through the slow attrition of protest.

Whether the government responds to Karki's call and moves swiftly to negotiations remains to be seen. What is already evident, however, is that the repeated image of Dr KC abandoning food to be heard has struck a nerve among legislators as well, and that one of them, speaking from direct experience of the health system, regards the moment as one that demands the government's immediate attention.