BAMS Colleges in Nepal

Balanced vegetarian diets, exercise, meditation, and massage are often considered modern-day fads in Western cultures. Still, their origins can be traced back to ancient Ayurvedic medical texts from the fourth century BC. These texts evolved over centuries of empirical observation, diagnosis, and treatments, emphasizing diet and mindfulness as critical to a healthy, balanced lifestyle. With globalization, parts of Ayurveda have been popularized as alternative medicine in the West.

To truly understand the cultural importance of Ayurveda, one must first understand the history of the Indus civilization and the Vedas (knowledge). The Vedas are called Sruti (heard literature), and content is transferred from generation to generation through Vedic hymns (chants). These religious hymns include praise and worship of gods and prayers for health and long life, and many parts of the four Vedas (Rigveda, Samveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda) mention disease remedies. Health and hygiene principles reside in Ayurveda, a subsidiary of Atharvaveda.

Students study Ayurvedic texts, including Charaka Samhita (internal medicine), Susruta Samhita (surgery), Madhava Nidana (diagnosis), Madanapala Nighantu (botany and pharmacology), and Rasatarangini (chemistry). Literally, Ayur means long life, and Veda means knowledge. It is called Ayurveda because it guides which substances, qualities, and actions are life-enhancing and which are not.

Both preventive and prescriptive, Ayurveda connects the human body with the natural world and teaches how to use natural elements for the well-being of humans.

Ayurveda Study in Nepal

Today, the medical system in Nepal can be grouped into four categories: faith healing (non-formal); folklore and home herbal remedies; traditional medicine (Ayurveda, Baidhya, homeopathy, Unani, Amchi); and allopathic medicine.

Formal Ayurvedic education began in 1928 when Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher Rana established an educational fund for students to study in India. In Nepal, the study of Ayurveda is supported by institutions like Nepal Sanskrit University and Tribhuvan University. 

Nepal Sanskrit University has affiliated three institutions, while Tribhuvan University has granted affiliation to two. Nepal Ayurved Medical College and Teaching Hospital and Shree Mithila Ayurveda College and Research Centre, did not got any seats for enrollment in 2024.

In 2024, the Medical Education Commission allocated 100 seats for the BAMS program, with 12 reserved for full-paying foreign nationals. 

To get enrollment in the BAMS program students should sit and pass a common entrance examination; MECEE-BL which selects students based on merit and inclusion criteria.