National
NMC, Universal told to follow merit system
Calling the enrolment for post-graduate programme in two of its affiliated medical colleges as “illegal”, the Institute of Medicine (IoM) has directed them to admit only those students selected by the institute on merit basis.Manish Gautam
Calling the enrolment for post-graduate programme in two of its affiliated medical colleges as “illegal”, the Institute of Medicine (IoM) has directed them to admit only those students selected by the institute on merit basis.
In the wake of reports that the National Medical College and the Universal Medical College, Bhairahawa, had been taking in students through illegal admission process, the IoM on Wednesday wrote to them, saying that their enrolment process was in breach of the merit system and thus unacceptable. The IoM is yet to finalise the list of students who will be eligible to pursue post-graduate studies.
“Only those students who pass our counselling will be enrolled into colleges on merit basis,” said IoM Dean Dr Jagdish Prasad Agrawal. “Or else we will not accept the student’s enrolment and they will not be recognised by the IoM. The medical colleges don’t have rights to enrol students on their own.”
According to IoM officials, these medical schools have been enrolling students who can afford an exorbitant amount for their studies.
National and Universal are understood to have been charging amount, ranging from Rs7 million to Rs10 million for medical courses, including Radiology and Orthopaedics. Both the colleges run MD/MS programme in Radiology, Orthopaedics, Internal Medicine, Gynaecology, General Surgery, among others. The Nepal Medical Council (NMC), which regulates medical education in the country, has allotted 37 seats to Universal for enrolment in post-graduate programmes, while giving away only 29 seats to National. Universal had recently moved the court after the NMC slashed the seats as an investigation found that the college had hurled in dummy professors from north India—popularly known as Khade Babas—just for the supervisory period. The IoM has always struggled to regulate its medical colleges, basically over fee structures, as the Tribhuvan University Executive Council has repeatedly failed to determine the fees for the post-graduate courses what many believe under pressure from medical college owners and political leaders.
“We cannot trust the office bearers at the TU. As they have not decided on the fees, many talented students are denied admission in medical colleges. This contributes to the production of substandard human resources in medical sector,” said Dr Govinda KC, an orthopaedics professor at IoM, who has repeatedly staged hunger strikes against the monopoly of the private medical schools and political meddling in medical education. The issues of fees in the post-graduate studies is much regulated in the affiliated medical colleges of Kathmandu University. Students willing to study post-graduate programmes under KU affiliated colleges should first sit for the university’s entrance examination and if selected they should deposit Rs2.2 million into the university account. The university determines colleges for the students based on merit. The IoM would soon hold counselling for the students who succeeded in the entrance test and decide on the medical college they will be enrolled into, Dr Agrawal said. “Regarding the fees, it is beyond our jurisdiction. Yet, I urge the TU to decide on the matter soon.”