Honourable President of Nepal [Head of State], Honourable Prime Minister of Nepal [Executive], Honorable Speaker of House of Representatives [Legislative], Honourable Chief Justice of Nepal [Judicia], All Minister of respective Ministry, Honourable All Public Representatives, Political Leaders and Nepalese Citizens, 

We (Doctors, Nurses, Allied health professionals and working in Health sectors) have always given our best to our patients and our country. We are always surrounded by sick people and are exposed to the risks of various diseases, which can also be passed on to our families. These exposures can lead to our death and also of our family members.

This new Coronavirus (COVID-19) has exponentially increased the risk to our lives and the lives of our family members. In the present war-like situation, we are the new soldiers and the enemy is deadly Coronavirus.

We are thankful to all of you for showing solidarity for our works and to the morale to fight against this deadly disease. Apart from moral boosting, the soldiers do need appropriate and updated weapons to fight the enemy.

We, the healthcare workers, in public and private institutions do not have any social security benefits. Soldiers should be able to focus on the enemy and not worry about the personal, social and family issues which will face after their death or disability. There are some situations where armies have to limit their war and come back without a total win-win situation. 

We are fully dedicated in this emergency and war-like situation in Nepal and we promise you that just like the soldiers we will also not turn back or leave our duty even if it takes our life. 

The data from elsewhere in the world shows that we are at risk of losing our life as well as risk to the life of our children, wife/husband, parents and other family members.

To further motivate our work we request you to make legal provision for the following benefits:

1. All the protection devices like masks, sanitizer, personal protective equipment etc. to be given free of cost to all healthcare workers in all the hospitals in Nepal.
2. The persons responsible for abusive behaviour, violence in any form with the healthcare worker or hospital should be immediately sent to JAIL WITHOUT BAIL.
3. In case there is permanent disability or death of healthcare worker the family dependents should get a pension for whole life and this pension should be equal to that of equivalent government scale.
4. Priorities for buying or getting materials of daily need should be given to doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and all people working in the healthcare setup. If we are not healthy, how can we serve you and save the nation in the best way possible?  
5. Hospitals and healthcare institutions and organization must get all the materials to run the health service uninterrupted.

We have full faith and trust in you and believe that our Honourable President of Nepal [Head of State], Honourable Prime Minister of Nepal [Executive], Honorable Speaker of House of Representatives [Legislative], Honourable Chief Justice of Nepal [Judicia], All Minister of respective Ministry, Honourable All Public Representatives, Political Leaders and concerned Nepalese Citizens, will take urgent action with the decision in this issue to "Shield and Protect Doctors and Health Professionals in Nepal: COVID-19 Pandemic"

Thank you. 

Dr Badri Rijal                 Dr Lochan Karki
General Secretary         President

Nepal Medical Association​ | NMA Facebook