THOUSANDS of Nepalese doctors stayed away from work at clinics and hospitals across the country yesterday to support a colleague who has been on hunger strike for 10 days demanding medical education and services reforms.

More than 5,000 doctors took part in the action and only emergency services were open in hospitals across the Himalayan nation, said Dr Nirmal Rimal of the Nepal Medical Association.

A group of doctors briefly scuffled with police officers yesterday while protesting outside the Nepal Medical Council office in the capital Kathmandu.

The physicians are supporting Dr Govinda KC, who is demanding that the government makes medical education affordable for more students and medical services available to all citizens.

Only three of Nepal’s 20 medical colleges are run by the government.

The private colleges charge huge fees and are unaffordable for the majority of the population.

The hunger-striking doctor has also alleged widespread corruption among officials in granting permits to private medical colleges and is demanding that the officials be dismissed and punished.

Government negotiators have failed to reach agreement to end the strike.

Dr KC went on a 15-day hunger strike last year for similar demands, only ending it when ministers assured him that there would be changes in the medical education system.

But doctors say the changes have failed to appear.