Task force formed to review seats and fees of medical colleges

Kathmandu, April 16: The 18th meeting of the Medical Education Commission chaired by Prime Minister and Chairman of the Medical Education Commission KP Sharma Oli today formed an 11-member taskforce to review the number of MBBS and BDS seats in private medical colleges and the fee structure.     

Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Deepak Kafle, is assigned the coordinator of the taskforce and it has been asked to submit suggestions within 10 days. The Commission's meeting was held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers in Singha Durbar.     

Secretary at the Ministry of Health and Population Dr Bikash Devkota, Dean of Faculty of Medicine under Tribhuvan University Dr Mohan Sharma, Dean of Faculty of Medical Sciences under Kathmandu University Dr Manoj Humagain, experts Dr Bhagwan Koirala, Dr Ramesh Kant Adhikari, Dr Dibya Singh Shah, Dr Mangal Rawal, Chairman of Nepal Medical College Dr Anil Karki and President of Association of Private Medical and Dental Colleges Dr Gyanendra Karki are members of the taskforce.     

The Association of Private Medical and Dental Colleges had drawn the government's attention to the difficulty in providing subsistence allowance to the resident doctors at par with the government. Prime Minister Oli has called a meeting of the Commission today after the students threatened to protest again if they did not get the allowance.     

Earlier, the 16th meeting of the Commission held on February 7 had decided that the private medical colleges should maintain a monthly subsistence allowance of Rs 48,500 at par with the government (8th level) while addressing the demands of the resident doctors.     

After the task force studies the number of seats and fee hike and submits its suggestions, the private medical colleges will have to pay the subsistence allowance prescribed by the Commission accordingly and 'matching' related to the admission of students will start. The next meeting of the commission will be held on April 28.(RSS)