Prez issues medical education ordinance

KATHMANDU, Nov 10: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has issued the medical education ordinance on Friday.

Krishna Murari Ghimire, information officer at the Office of the President, informed Friday that President Bhandari certified the ordinance, said Dr Abhisekh Singh, coordinator of the talks team formed on behalf of the Dr KC team. “Ghimire said that he informed about it as we were one of the major stakeholders of the ordinance,” he added.

The cabinet on October 23 had forwarded the ordinance, which addresses the recommendations made by the Mathema taskforce, to the president for her final approval.

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The ordiance is a milestone in medical education reform, said Dr Singh. “This is one of the greatest achievements for which Dr Govinda KC was fighting since 2012, staging 13 hunger strikes till now,” he added. 

The ordinance has provisioned setting up at least one government-run medical college in all seven provinces of the country within five years and places a moratorium on opening new medical colleges in the Kathmandu Valley for the next ten years.

The ordiance is a milestone in medical education reform.

-- Dr Abhisekh Singh

 

Similarly, it has provisioned a common entrance exam system nationwide for MBBS. 

Likewise, specialist doctors should serve for at least two years in remote areas or three years in the accessible areas after their completion of their studies, according to the ordinance.

Also, the government-run medical colleges should allocate 75 percent of the MBBS seats for scholarships. “Another major achievement of the ordinance is that it has provisioned formation of Medical Education Commission, which will monitor all medical colleges, and define criteria and infrastructures to operate medical colleges,” said Dr Singh. “If anyone snatches away the hard-won provisions of the ordinance from people, we will again launch appropriate movement against such move,” he added.

The ordinance need to be approved within six months of the first sitting of the parliament. The next parliament session will begin only after the completion of the parliamentary polls, which are scheduled for November 26 and December 7. .