Prof. Dr. Narayan Singh Gurung has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences, part of the same six-academy round of appointments covered elsewhere in this series. As with Karnali Academy's Dr. Suryaman Manyangbo, this is Dr. Gurung's second attempt at his academy's top post he was one of eight applicants for the same job in mid-2025, a race he did not win at the time.
| New Vice-Chancellor | Prof. Dr. Narayan Singh Gurung |
| Selection process | Open competition run jointly across 6 health science academies (Pokhara, Patan, NAMS, BPKIHS, Rapti, Karnali); 26 applications accepted for Pokhara — the largest field of any academy; interviews held Asar 16, 2083 (June 30, 2026) |
| Outgoing VC | Dr. Bharat Bahadur Khatri (appointed by the KP Sharma Oli government, August 14, 2025; removed by ordinance, May 2, 2026) |
| Caretaker leadership | Prof. Dr. Narendra Bikram Gurung, Acting Vice-Chancellor from May 8, 2026 — a different person from the newly appointed VC |
Who is Narayan Singh Gurung?
Dr. Gurung was already a senior member of Pokhara Academy's own faculty before this appointment. He is Professor and Head of the Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine (MDGP), where he also serves as Course Coordinator. As with several other appointments in this round, his selection continues the pattern of long-serving departmental heads already embedded in the institution winning out through open competition.
A second run at the job
Prof. Dr. Gurung was one of eight candidates who applied when Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences last advertised its Vice-Chancellor post in mid-2025 a race that ultimately went to Dr. Bharat Bahadur Khatri, appointed by the then KP Sharma Oli government. With Dr. Khatri's removal under the May 2026 ordinance and the post reopened through open, merit-based competition rather than political allocation, Dr. Gurung has now succeeded where he fell short before.
Selection process: a joint competition across six health science academies
Pokhara Academy's Vice-Chancellor post was filled through the same joint process covering six government health science academies under the "Integrated Procedure for the Selection and Recommendation of Vice-Chancellors of Health Science Academies, 2083."
- Applications were invited around Jestha 4, 2083. Of 113 applications received across all six academies, 26 were for the Pokhara post, the single largest applicant pool of any of the six academies.
- A shortlist of 86 candidates across all six academies was published on Asar 2, 2083.
- Interviews and presentations for Pokhara candidates were held on Asar 16, 2083 , the same day as Patan, NAMS, and BPKIHS.
- A Selection and Recommendation Committee, formed under Minister of Health and Food Safety, Nisha Mehta, forwarded a shortlist of names to the Council of Ministers for final appointment.
The predecessor: how the previous leadership left
Dr. Bharat Bahadur Khatri was appointed Pokhara Academy's Vice-Chancellor on August 14, 2025, one of four health science academy VCs sworn in together under then-Prime Minister and Chancellor KP Sharma Oli a round of appointments Nepali media described as divided along party-political lines within the governing coalition.
His tenure ended under the "Special Arrangement for Removal of Public Office-Holders Ordinance, 2083," issued on Baisakh 20, 2083 (May 2, 2026) alongside a parallel ordinance amending laws governing Health Science Academies. This removed Dr. Khatri as VC and Dr. Prem Raj Pangeni as Director, along with 31 office-holders at Pokhara Academy in total.
The Ministry of Health and Population assigned Prof. Dr. Narendra Bikram Gurung, a surgeon at the academy, as Acting Vice-Chancellor on May 8, 2026 notably, he had not even applied when the VC post was previously advertised. He kept the academy running through the open-competition process that has now concluded with Dr. Narayan Singh Gurung's appointment. The two men share a surname but are not the same person.
Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences operates Gandaki Hospital and runs undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programmes in Pokhara.
