The Medical Education Commission has decided to increase the seats of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and Bachlor of Dental Surgery (BDS).
The 21st meeting of the Commission chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Thursday decided to increase MBBS seats from 100 to 130 BDS seats from 50 to 60 depending upon the infrastructures and faculties of medical colleges.
With the decision, the medical colleges getting the highest 130 seats include Birat Medical College, Chitwan Medical College, College of Medical Sciences while Manipal College of Medical Sciences based in Pokhara has been allowed to increase up to 120 seats, the Prime Minister's Secretariat has said.
Private medical college operators had been exerting pressure on the government to increase the number of MBBS and BDS seats for a long time.
On April 3, resident doctors pursuing MD and MS degrees in Nepal staged a demonstration demanding a subsistence allowance equivalent to the eighth level set by the government. The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) backed their protest, which involved a call for a nationwide boycott of non-emergency services.
Following pressures from all quarters, private medical college operators agreed to increase the substance allowance of resident doctors on the condition that the medical fees and number of seats would be increased.
The Medical Education Commission had formed an 11-number task-force to review the fee structure and seat numbers of MBBS and BDS in private medical colleges.
The task-force in its report had mentioned that the fee structure and the number of seats could be increased. Similarly, the government in its policies and programs of the current fiscal year (FY) had stated that it would increase the MBBS seats.
Meanwhile, medical education reforms crusader Prof Dr Govinda KC has warned that he would stage a fast-onto-death if the fee structures and MBBS seats were increased in medical colleges.
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