KATHMANDU, Aug 23: The Medical Education Commission (MEC) has said it could not increase MBBS and nursing seats in government medical colleges due to a ‘lack of financial support’ from the Ministry of Finance.
According to MEC Vice-Chairperson Prof Anjani Kumar Jha, although government-run medical colleges across the country have adequate infrastructure to produce skilled health professionals, the MEC could not expand seats because the Finance Ministry did not allocate additional funds.
Currently, 89 medical colleges in Nepal run 17 undergraduate programs. Statistics show that while the Commission has been expanding seats to meet market demand, the increase has largely favored private colleges as most of the newly added seats went to private institutions.
Nobel-worthy
This year, the MEC added 495 MBBS seats, allocating only 130 to government colleges. Two new state-run institutions including Madan Bhandari Institute of Health Sciences and a college under Purbanchal University were each granted 50 seats, while Kathmandu University received 30 government seats. In total, the share of government institutions increased by only 26.26 percent compared to 73.73 percent in private colleges.
“Government medical colleges have adequate facilities and teaching faculty to train capable doctors domestically. We had requested the Finance Ministry to allow more seats in government colleges, but the ministry declined, citing the state’s existing burden of providing scholarships,” Jha told Republica. He said that the government spends around Rs 5 billion annually on full scholarships covering 75 percent of students in government-run medical education.
The MEC said Nepal’s demand for medical professionals, both at home and internationally, prompted it to expand a total of 1,398 medical seats this year, including 495 in MBBS and 440 in BSc Nursing.
Education experts, however, criticized the imbalance. Former Tribhuvan University Vice-Chancellor Kedar Bhakta Mathema argued that shrinking government seats while expanding private ones would not serve students’ interests. He recalled that the Mathema Commission (2015) had recommended restricting new private medical colleges in Kathmandu Valley for at least 10 years and adding seats only on the basis of research and infrastructure.
“While the Prime Minister himself speaks of socialism-oriented education, reducing government quotas only strengthens private medical colleges as a business,” Mathema said. He also expressed concern that expanding most of the new seats in private colleges may push medical education toward commercialization.
Until now, Nepal had 2,140 MBBS seats, which rose to 2,635 after the latest increase. Nursing seats grew from 1,990 to 2,430, while BDS seats rose from 575 to 625.
According to MEC member Dr Padma Bahadur Khadka, 75 percent of medical students in government colleges receive full scholarships, while private institutions provide 10 percent of seats under full scholarships. He added that the Finance Ministry refused additional allocations for government institutions, arguing it could not bear further financial responsibility. Likewise, the MEC believes the seat expansion will help reduce the outflow of Nepali students and capital to foreign countries for MBBS and nursing studies.
