Parents and relatives of medical students studying in China criticized the minister, using derogatory terms. Their aggressiveness followed their dissatisfaction with the minister’s response regarding the controversial issue relating to clinical exposure/pre-internship (48 weeks practical course prior to final examination to get MBBS certificate). [break]
Minister Pokhrel said the Ministry took the decision of banning students doing their MBBS (Bachelor in Medicine, Bachelor in Surgery) pre-internship in a foreign land on the basis of a report submitted by a high-level team which recently visited several medical authorities and colleges in China. The decision was made on December 14.
However, parents and relatives of medical students in China demanded the minister revoke the decision, allowing pre-internships to those students who went to China to study before December 2007. One of the woman’s parents said at the meet that they would not be able to bear the cost of arranging for students to complete the two years language course in China for those studying under the government quota. “The government pays for the students under the government quota,” she said. “But we have limited resources so we can’t bear the cost of language training.”
Minister Pokhrel, however, said that doing theory in another country and completing a pre-internship inside the country is beyond medical ethics. “The decision is not prejudiced,” he said. “The decision is based on the fact that any medical students should complete their five year course in the college where they join to get the education.”
See related news: Govt bans pre-internship for foreign-educated medicine students
As other Nepali medical students in foreign lands complete their pre-internships in the country in which they pursue education, students other than those studying under the government’s quota in China come to Nepal to do their course. It is because students sent by the government complete a two year language course prior to starting the medical course, while students going on their own avoid the language course and are then unable to do their pre-internship due to the language barrier.
In May 2007, the government made the decision to prohibit students from doing pre-internships in Nepal. In February, the Ministry even issued a public notice warning hospitals inside the country not to accept any new foreign MBBS students for pre-internship.
But students and their parents carried out several protests demanding the Ministry scrap its decision. The Ministry made a further decision to allow them to do the course, replacing its original decision. However, the Ministry then announced the decision was temporary, and that it would make a permanent decision on the basis of recommendations from the high-level team which would visit medical colleges in China personally.
The minister reiterated that the students should learn the language and do their pre-internships in the country where they pursue the medical course for reasons of quality and to maintain medical ethics.
Related story
Minister assaults party leaders and cadres
