Medical commission adds 418 public seats as Govinda KC challenges Geta approval

The Medical Education Commission has added 418 seats at government health science institutions for the coming academic year, with its integrated entrance examinations due to run from October 31 to November 4. The increase has drawn a protest threat from medical education campaigner Professor Dr Govinda KC, while the government says it will review past agreements with groups in the health sector.

Where the seats went

In all, 9,691 seats have been allocated across medical and other health science programmes, and 77,359 students have applied for the entrance examinations, The Kathmandu Post reported. Education and Sports Minister Sasmit Pokharel, who co-chairs the commission, said the 418 seats added compared with last year are all at government institutions; private colleges keep their previous allocations. He said the aim was to let meritorious students study at public colleges for lower fees, not to discourage the private sector.

Of the new places, 110 are MBBS seats, according to Pokharel. The commission has given 30 more seats each to the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan and the Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences. It has also, for the first time, allocated seats to the Shaheed Dasharath Chand University of Health Sciences in Geta, Kailali: 50 in MBBS, 20 in BSc Nursing, ten in BSc Medical Laboratory Technology and ten in Bachelor of Optometry, according to the university administration.

The university's case and Dr KC's objection

Registrar Dr Bhim Bahadur Chand told The Kathmandu Post that the university won approval after meeting the requirements on infrastructure, staffing and legal compliance. According to the administration, a 300-bed hospital is running at Geta, offering more than 50 specialist services and treating 400 to 500 patients a day, and there are plans to take it to 500 beds.

Dr KC disputes this. He has demanded that the commission cancel its approval for the MBBS programme in Geta, saying the university lacks the required infrastructure, staff and legal standards, and that the seat increase at the Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences be annulled, The Kathmandu Post and Swasthya Khabar reported. Letting institutions teach without meeting those standards would weaken medical education and could put public health at risk, he said in a statement.

On October 19 KC gave the government seven days to meet his demands; on October 26 he extended that by two days and warned that he would begin a satyagraha if they were still not met, according to Swasthya Khabar.

Government review

On Wednesday, October 28, a meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers in Singha Durbar decided to review agreements reached in the past with groups that had protested over health and medical education, and to settle the commitments still unimplemented in coordination with those involved, Nagarik reported. The health and food hygiene minister, the education and sports minister and Prime Minister Balendra Shah's health adviser were among those present. No decision on KC's specific demands, including the cancellation of the seat decisions, had been made public, Swasthya Khabar reported.