Nepal Medical Council (NMC), the country's apex medical body, has rejected a proposal submitted by Kathmandu University (KU) for increasing quotas for the enrollment in MBBS program in Birat Medical College and Nobel Medical College.
"We rejected KU's proposal to increase the MBBS seats for both colleges as per the Supreme Court order two years ago," said Dr Dilip Sharma, registrar at NMC, "Both the colleges lack sufficient infrastructures, faculties and facilities required to increase the number of seats."
On Thursday, NMC dispatched a letter to Kathmandu University, informing about the rejection of the proposal.
On the basis of its council meeting held on November 14 to increase the number of seats in the two colleges, KU had written a letter on November 16 to NMC requesting the latter to increase the number of MBBS seats at the Biratnagar-based Nobel Medical College and Birat Medical College. The letter from KU demanded that the number of MBBS seats be increased by 10 at each of the two colleges. At present, Nobel Medical College and Birat Medical College can take in 90 and 65 MBBS students respectively per year.
Meanwhile, NMC has decided not to send Nepali students to study medical sciences at blacklisted medical colleges in Bangladesh. After the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education reported to the apex body that about 200 Nepali students have been studying at illegal or blacklisted medical colleges in Bangladesh, it decided not to allow students to go to Bangladesh for medical studies.
"Those students are enrolled at those medical colleges which are blacklisted or not affiliated to any recognized university," said Registrar Sharma.
Some education consultancies here in Nepal sent those students to the illegal medical colleges in Bangladesh. A student can complete a MBBS course at the cost of Rs 5-6 million in Bangladesh, according to NMC. "The students also like to go to Bangladesh without knowing details about the medical colleges. They are just lured by the cheap fee structures with the option of paying in installments," said NMC officials.
According to NMC, 478 students went abroad to study medical sciences in 2016. Among them, 328 were enrolled in the medical colleges of Bangladesh. "We will allow the students to go to only the recognized universities and colleges in Bangladesh," said Dr Sharma.
Aspriring MBBS students should take permission from NMC to study medical sciences abroad. When the students return to the country after completing their course, they should pass the tests taken by NMC to practice medicine.
Source: Republica National daily among others.
