KATHMANDU, Jan 9: After keeping aspiring MBBS students in agony for a long time, Tribhuvan University has finally decided on the allocation MBBS seats for private medical colleges under the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

“We dispatched a letter on Sunday to IOM regarding the decision about the long pending issue of allocation of seats for MBBS,” said Prof Dr. Tirtha Raj Khaniya, vice chancellor of TU. “The decision was made as per the recommendation of the concerned authorities,” he added. "Now, the medical colleges can admit the students on the basis of merit."

TU was dissatisfied with IOM and Nepal Medical Council (NMC) for their decision to decrease the number of MBBS seats in private medical colleges for the current academic session, citing poor management and infrastructure. 

After IOM's decision on the allocation of seats for the medical colleges, the NMC should correct it and recommend it to TU for final approval. Until TU decides the matter, the colleges cannot admit new MBBS students. It took TU two months for TU to take a decision on this matter. The MBBS classes were scheduled to begin from November 17, last year.

There are seven medical colleges under the IOM, which has allocated a total of 660 seats for enrolment in MBBS this year. According to the IOM, it has recommended 90 seats for KIST Medical College (Lalitpur), 100 seats for Nepal Army Medical College (Kathmandu Valley), 80 seats for Janaki Medical College (Janakpur), 90 seats for Gandaki Medical College (Pokhara), 90 seats for National Medical College (Birgunj), 100 seats for Universal College of Medical Science (Bhairahawa), and 90 seats for Chitwan Medical College (Chitwan). Besides these seats, IOM has the capacity of 75 seats for MBBS enrollment.
IOM on December 4 published the results of MBBS entrance test, which was cancelled on November 19 and re-conducted on December 2. The first entrance test taken on October 14 was canceled, following the controversy of cheating in the exam by using electronic devices. 

A total of 46 percent examinees received the minimum 50 percent marks required to get the admission in the MBBS course. A total of 7,298 students appeared in the entrance tests taken on December 2 and 1,672 (18 percent) did not attend the test. 

 
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