Kathmandu, July 7 -- Once again, thousands of ailing people from across the country will be deprived of treatment on Monday, with the Nepal Medical Association, the umbrella body of medical doctors, announcing a boycott of non-emergency services.

This time, the protest is against the Consumer's Court's recent verdicts, which slapped heavy penalties on doctors found guilty of gross negligence in treatments that resulted in serious complications and patient death.

This is the second time in two months that the association has called for a complete halt to non-emergency services at health facilities across the country. Earlier, in the last week of April, the association had instructed its member doctors to shun services to put pressure on ...