Nepal’s Premier Is Being Treated for Lung Cancer

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/28/world/asia/nepals-premier-is-being-treated-for-lung-cancer.html

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NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Sushil Koirala of Nepal is undergoing radiation therapy in New York to treat a cancerous tumor found on his lung, and his indefinite absence could further paralyze Nepalese politics.

Mr. Koirala, 75, had previously suffered from tongue cancer, but his chronic emphysema from a longtime smoking habit makes surgery on his lung too dangerous, said Dr. Kabirnath Yogi, the prime minister’s consulting physician.

Mr. Koirala has been in the United States for nearly two weeks, and he is receiving treatment at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Mr. Koirala, a leader of the Nepali Congress party, was elected prime minister in February after weeks of sometimes bitter negotiations with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist).

A government spokesman predicted that Mr. Koirala would return to his job in Nepal shortly, and said that the government was operating well. “Despite his absence in Nepal, we are in regular touch with the prime minister, and the government is doing its regular business,” said Minendra Rijal, the spokesman.

But Lok Raj Baral, executive chairman of the Nepal Center for Contemporary Studies, said that an extended absence would further complicate Nepal’s already delicate political situation. “There will definitely be complications as the government cannot take major decisions in his absence,” Mr. Baral said.

Before leaving for New York, Mr. Koirala tried to appoint a new deputy prime minister from his own party to displace Deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam, a member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist). A political firestorm erupted, and Mr. Koirala backed down.

Last year, after years of political paralysis, Nepal elected a Constituent Assembly tasked with writing a constitution. One of the world’s poorest countries, Nepal has experienced a long series of political problems that torpedoed its economy. Many of the country’s young people now leave Nepal to find work.